In the summer of 1963, 17-year-old New Yorker Frances "Baby" Houseman (Jennifer Grey) is vacationing with her affluent family at Kellerman's,[3] a resort in the Catskill Mountains. She is planning to attend Mount Holyoke College to study economics of underdeveloped countries and then enter the Peace Corps. She was named after Frances Perkins, the first woman in the U.S. Cabinet. Her father, Jake (Jerry Orbach), is the personal physician of Max Kellerman (Jack Weston), the owner of the resort.

Baby develops a crush on the resort's dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze), part of the working class entertainment staff. When she, while carrying a watermelon, is invited to one of their secret after-hour parties, she observes the "dirty dancing" for the first time. She is intrigued by the sexy dancing, and receives a brief lesson from Johnny. Later, she discovers that his dance partner Penny Johnson (Cynthia Rhodes) is distraught over being pregnant by Robbie Gould (Max Cantor), the womanizing waiter who is dating and cheating on her sister Lisa. She learns that he plans to do nothing about the pregnancy—as he says, "some people count, some people don't"—so she secures the money from her father to pay for Penny's illegal abortion. Jake agrees to give it to her despite her secrecy regarding what it will be used for, because of the trust he holds in her. In her efforts to help, she also becomes Penny's substitute dancer for a performance at the Sheldrake, a nearby resort where Johnny and Penny perform annually. This upcoming show requires him to train her to become a better dancer and learn the required routine.

As Baby becomes Johnny's pupil in dancing, tempers flare and a romance begins to develop in the process. Their performance at the Sheldrake goes reasonably well, though she is too nervous to accomplish the dance's climactic lift. When they return to Kellerman's, they learn that Penny's backstreet abortion was botched, leaving her in agonizing pain. Baby brings her father to help, but he assumes that the pregnancy was caused by Johnny, and forbids her to have anything to do with him or his friends. He is furious at her for lying to him and betraying his trust. She, however, defies him and sneaks out to visit Johnny in his room that very night, where they continue their blossoming romance. Their relationship is eventually revealed after he is accused of stealing a wallet from one of the resort guests and is unable to provide a verifiable alibi; to save him from being fired, Baby confesses that he could not have been responsible as she was with him in his cabin that night. He is eventually cleared of the theft charge, but is still fired for having an affair with a guest. However, Baby's selfless act inspires him to realize that "there are people willing to stand up for other people no matter what it costs them."

A scene from the dancing finale, as Baby overcomes her fears, and trusts both in Johnny and herself, to allow him to lift her high in the air. This has been described as "the most goosebump-inducing dance scene in movie history,"[5][6] and the pose is one of the most recognizable images of the film.Johnny, even though he has been fired, returns to the resort to perform the final dance of the season with Baby. Criticizing the Housemans for their choice of her seat, he states "Nobody puts Baby in a corner," as he pulls her up from their table. He leads her onstage, interrupting the show that is already in progress. After a brief speech, they dazzle the audience with a stunning dance performance to the song "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" which ends with her completing the lift for the first time. Jake learns that the true culprit in Penny's pregnancy was Robbie, not Johnny, and he apologizes. (Earlier he had given Robbie a check for medical school; when Robbie willingly confessed to getting Penny pregnant and then insulted her, Jake angrily took the check back). The film ends as the dance sequence continues and the room is transformed into a nightclub where everyone (staff and patrons) dances together.

Cast

Patrick Swayze : Johnny Castle

Jennifer Grey : Frances "Baby" Houseman

Jerry Orbach : Dr. Jake Houseman

Kelly Bishop : Marjorie Houseman

Jane Brucker : Lisa Houseman

Cynthia Rhodes : Penny Johnson

Jack Weston : Max Kellerman

Max Cantor : Robbie Gould

Lonny Price : Neil Kellerman

Charles Coles : Tito Suarez

Neal Jones : Billy Kostecki