A CERTAIN ATTRACTION

Having as background the early seventies, Ruby Collins, the most beautiful girl in River Lake, a small town in Oregon, enjoys an enchanted existence. Smashingly attractive and with charisma to burn, Ruby's good looks had been, since she was little, admired, talked about and finally resented as something no girl had the right to have in such a high degree of perfection. At school, and much to her parents' chagrin, Ruby makes best friends with Amy Levin, nicknamed "Betty Boop" for her striking resemblance with the cartoon's heroine.

Triggered by their differences in outlook and personality, things get to a rocky start when Lora Louise Mc Angus returns from private school and immediately locks horns with Ruby. When Lora Louise begins to date Bill Norton Jr., an All-American boy destined for a rosy future, Ruby aggressively decides to become a rival and take him away from her. After some embarrassing situations, she succeeds. At the end of the first two weeks of exclusive smooching and hugging, Ruby gives away her virginity to him. Ruby faces a turmoil of indecision about Bill, her feelings for him and her future in a place that she considers dull, oppressive and never-changing. Opportunity presents itself when Amy, prompted by circumstances, is forced to leave River Lake for the big city trappings of Los Angeles. Ruby decides to follow her a few months later. She breaks off with a completely distressed Bill and lies to her parents about what is waiting for her in the sunny metropolis. Once in L.A., Ruby looks for work as a high-end receptionist and simultaneously realizes that Amy's low self-esteem has turned her into a bitter, one-night-stand, hard-to-connect person. After having a big fight with her, about some of the men she is dating, Ruby decides to move out. She finds a room in a lovely house owned by Etta Goodwin, a lonely widow of means, who simply wants to become a landlady for the opportunity to communicate with the tenant she selects and who she feels would provide the injection of youth she longs for in her unexciting daily existence. While applying for one of the earlier jobs, Ruby makes friends with Dani, who had asked her to come with her to a big party she has been invited to attend the following Friday night. Once there, Dani introduces her to Evan, a handsome and sexy stranger who transmits a combination of animal magnetism and insolent sex appeal that violently attracts her. After the initial obsession Ruby develops for him, especially after having sex on a daily basis, she comes to the conclusion that Evan's personality is one-note and self-centered. Discouraged about his relationship with him, Ruby runs into Neil Roberts, the man who interviewed her for one of the receptionist jobs she had applied a week earlier. Another opening had come up unexpectedly and this time he offers it to her between bouts of open flirting. In a rare moment of trust, Evan confesses to Ruby that she has a six year old daughter named Elaine that he hasn't seen in three years and that he never married her mother. Because the mother wants the relationship with his daughter to improve she has demanded from Evan to visit her more often. As he feels like a complete stranger to her, he asks Ruby to accompany him to the private school where she is a boarder. Sadly, Ruby realizes when she meets Elaine that her mother has poisoned the child's feelings for him. She also notices that Evan resents the successful rapport that Ruby and Elaine had developed. Evan stops calling Ruby so she decides to go to his house and ask him why has there been this change in behavior. She finds him coked out in the middle of having sex with a girl. After mutual recriminations, they have an argument that turns physical and Evan throws Ruby out of the house. A couple of days later Ruby accepts Neil's invitation to his sister's party and also agrees to give her a lift home. She notices entering Neil's car that Evan is parked across the street watching the

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