WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW!
Cinta (whose name means "love") is a girl at high school in the wealthy Jakarta suburb of Swirijaya Golf. She and her four girlfriends Maura, Alia, Karmen and Milly do everything together, both socially and at school. Cinta has a boyfriend, Borne, but has no real feelings for him. Cinta also writes poetry, and the other four girls are sure she will win the school poetry competition. But the prize goes instead to a moody loner, Rangga. Partly out of jealousy, Cinta decides to interview him for the school paper, but Rangga wants no part of it. He didn't even enter the competition it was his only friend, the school caretaker Mr Wardiman, who entered one of Rangga's poems on his behalf. Though neither Cinta nor Rangga wants to admit it, they click. Cinta begins to turn up late, or not at all, for dates with her girlfriends. Without telling them, she is seeing Rangga. Their first date ends badly when they argue and she storms out of a second-hand book dealer's, where they have gone on the pretext of tracking down an out-of-print novel. Borne gets to hear about it and brings some of his friends to confront Rangga. They beat him up, but this only brings Cinta and Rangga back together. Cinta gets a glimpse outside her privileged world when she meets Yusrizal, Rangga's father, who is an academic. For exposing government corruption in 1996, he was fired and persecuted, and even deserted by his wife and all his children except for Rangga. Cinta is just asking him "But hasn't there been reform now?" when thugs on motorbikes toss firebombs through the window. Yusrizal puts out the fires as if it's an everyday occurrence and Rangga tell Cinta that it's no use making a complaint because "no action will be taken." Later Cinta accepts Rangga's invitation to the Blues Cafe, where Rangga's cousin Rama is a singer. Rama invites her to perform and she recites Rangga's winning poem. But when she gets home, her parents are on their way to hospital. Cinta's friend Alia has attempted suicide after suffering years of violence at the hands of her father. Cinta blames herself because she had chosen to go out with Rangga instead of seeing Alia. The other girls turn on her, and she turns on Rangga. But Alia recovers and the girls see their mistake. They realise that Cinta loves Rangga, and urge her to make it up with him. Then they hear from Mr Wardiman that Rangga is leaving to study in New York. The girls commandeer the car of the school nerd, Mamet, and rush to the airport, where Cinta and Rangga are reconciled. He still has to go to New York, but he leaves her his book of poems, in which he promises to come back to her.
Cinta (whose name means "love") is a girl at high school in the wealthy Jakarta suburb of Swirijaya Golf. She and her four girlfriends Maura, Alia, Karmen and Milly do everything together, both socially and at school. Cinta has a boyfriend, Borne, but has no real feelings for him. Cinta also writes poetry, and the other four girls are sure she will win the school poetry competition. But the prize goes instead to a moody loner, Rangga. Partly out of jealousy, Cinta decides to interview him for the school paper, but Rangga wants no part of it. He didn't even enter the competition it was his only friend, the school caretaker Mr Wardiman, who entered one of Rangga's poems on his behalf. Though neither Cinta nor Rangga wants to admit it, they click. Cinta begins to turn up late, or not at all, for dates with her girlfriends. Without telling them, she is seeing Rangga. Their first date ends badly when they argue and she storms out of a second-hand book dealer's, where they have gone on the pretext of tracking down an out-of-print novel. Borne gets to hear about it and brings some of his friends to confront Rangga. They beat him up, but this only brings Cinta and Rangga back together. Cinta gets a glimpse outside her privileged world when she meets Yusrizal, Rangga's father, who is an academic. For exposing government corruption in 1996, he was fired and persecuted, and even deserted by his wife and all his children except for Rangga. Cinta is just asking him "But hasn't there been reform now?" when thugs on motorbikes toss firebombs through the window. Yusrizal puts out the fires as if it's an everyday occurrence and Rangga tell Cinta that it's no use making a complaint because "no action will be taken." Later Cinta accepts Rangga's invitation to the Blues Cafe, where Rangga's cousin Rama is a singer. Rama invites her to perform and she recites Rangga's winning poem. But when she gets home, her parents are on their way to hospital. Cinta's friend Alia has attempted suicide after suffering years of violence at the hands of her father. Cinta blames herself because she had chosen to go out with Rangga instead of seeing Alia. The other girls turn on her, and she turns on Rangga. But Alia recovers and the girls see their mistake. They realise that Cinta loves Rangga, and urge her to make it up with him. Then they hear from Mr Wardiman that Rangga is leaving to study in New York. The girls commandeer the car of the school nerd, Mamet, and rush to the airport, where Cinta and Rangga are reconciled. He still has to go to New York, but he leaves her his book of poems, in which he promises to come back to her.