Joseph Svenden (Dennis Hopper) is a middle-aged schoolteacher with a bad leg who lives on a farm with his dying mother. In his simple life there are no excitements, even in long-time relationship with a widow (Amy Irving). However, when a 17-year old beauty (Amy Locane) enrolls in his class, Joseph finds himself carried away into an enthralling sexual relationship of a sort that he felt he would never know.

It is ironic that Amy Irving wouldn't appear nude in CARRIE at age 23 but is all-the-way nude in CARRIED AWAY at 43. I think that after you land Steven Spielberg only to have him trade you in for a newer model a lot of stuff seems silly to worry about, like who gets naked in movies. Dennis Hopper is equally nude at 60. (It's touching scene… the two have been lovers for years but have never previously stood naked before each other.) Needless to say, stunning Amy Locane's scenes with Hopper have a poignant "beauty and the beast" quality.