Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is set in the Australian community of Carlton, a suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne. The play doesn't follow any one main character - instead, it follows six who each lead very different, interesting lives.
The play is rather unique in its structure - instead of the characters going through somewhat of an introductory phase, viewers are expected to interpret each character's personality as the play goes on from start to finish. This addiction of indirect characterization has proved to be quite popular among viewers, and has since been used more frequently in plays around the world.
It is the seventeenth year of a still unknown annual tradition that the members of the town seem to go mad over. Barney and Roo, two sugarcane plantation workers, go to Olive and Nancy's house to celebrate. Nancy, however, is now married, and does not appear in the rest of the play. To fill the gap, Olive invites Pearl Cunningham to visit, and the men do not object. Also present is Emma, Olive's mother than mainly disapproves of her sinful city ways.
The celebration quickly turns to ashes as the group of adults struggles to maintain their youthfulness. After all of these years, the celebration, supposedly about dolls, has lost its meaning - also, Roo has to take a job at a paint factory instead of the plantation because he is so poor.
Things continue to fall apart as Pearl Cunningham denies her social role in society, Barney and Roo's friendship falls apart, and Emma complains about everything that the other characters do. By the end of the play, Roo makes a rather rash decision to propose to Olive. To this proposal Olive opposes, and cuts off contact with him due to the very prospect of living with him for the rest of her life.
