Pumpkin 2002

Carolyn McDuffy, Christina Ricci, is a college senior approaching the final year of study at a Southern California university. To help her sorority nab a coveted award that has slipped from their grasp in years past, she joins them in training handicapped young adults for the Challenged Games, a fictional stand-in for the Special Olympics. The goal is clear, but the path is anything but easy.

Carolyn is paired with Jesse “Pumpkin” Romanoff, Hank Harris, and she is stunned by how little she knows about working with challenged athletes. He is patient, kind, and genuine, qualities that begin to erode her carefully constructed pretenses. Despite her discomfort at first, Carolyn finds herself drawn to Pumpkin, and the growing bond stands in stark contrast to the apathy of her boyfriend Kent Woodlands and the taunting from her sorority sisters, led by Julie Thurber. The relationship blossoms in a climate of disapproval from friends and family, culminating in a devastating rift that ripples through every corner of her life.

Judy, Pumpkin’s mother, becomes a loud and painful voice of accusation, insisting Carolyn has harmed her son. The allegations escalate into real consequences: Judy’s disapproval spills into a formal charge, and Carolyn is expelled from both the sorority and the university. The weight of the world presses down as Carolyn suffers a self-inflicted wound of despair, attempting suicide with pills, only to vomit them back up and find a stubborn will to go on.

News of the crisis finally spurs the sorority to rally around Carolyn, and she is allowed to return to campus. The plan is to attend the sorority ball with Kent, hoping to salvage the chapter’s reputation and the team’s chance at the award. At the ball, Pumpkin and his friends crash the party, insisting on a dance with Carolyn. Kent steps in, confronts Pumpkin, and lands a series of blows before Pumpkin tackles Kent, knocking him unconscious for a moment. Humiliation follows as Kent leaves in defeat.

Carolyn makes her way to Pumpkin, squeezing through a barrier erected by Julie and the sorority sisters. They dance together, and soon the room fills with others who join them on the dance floor, turning an intimate moment into a shared celebration. Kent exits the scene in a swirl of emotion, driving away in his car and spiraling toward tragedy as he swerves to avoid a truck and plunges off a cliff. The car explodes in mid-air, and Kent survives but is left paraplegic, bearing blame squarely on Carolyn and the upheaval she has caused.

The fallout continues to reshape lives. Carolyn, heartbroken and overwhelmed, withdraws from college and cuts ties with Pumpkin for the moment. The sorority withdraws its support for the team, and the rival sorority seizes the award. Carolyn relocates to a public university, where she opens herself up to new friendships and the possibility of a fresh start.

In time, the sorority that once shunned her experiences a change of heart and shows up at the Olympic event, signaling a shift in the campus culture. Kent, now coaching Pumpkin, becomes a quiet source of motivation and humility. Pumpkin faces a stern rival—one who tries to bully him at every turn—but is spurred on by Kent’s steady guidance to win not just for himself but for Carolyn. The finish line becomes a moment of reconciliation as the crowd chews in encouragement: the sorority sisters, Pumpkin’s mother, and Kent applaud his victory.

As Carolyn and Pumpkin walk away from the crowd, she asks what name she should call him, and his response—“Pumpkin will be fine”—feels like a quiet vow. Their shared memory of the moon question returns in a lingering, almost enigmatic moment when Carolyn asks if the moon was literal or metaphorical, to which Pumpkin replies, “What?” leaving her with a knowing, contemplative look as they move forward together.

In the end, the film carries a message about perseverance, forgiveness, and the complicated, enduring pull of love. It shows how a community can evolve—from judgment and separation to support and celebration—when people choose empathy over fear and fear over indifference.