This film is based on the true story of Ellsworth "Sonny" Wisecarver, a 15-year-old boy whose romantic escapades during 1944 amused a war-exhausted American public hungry for something out of the ordinary. First, Sonny falls in love with Judy (Talia Balsam), a 21-year-old mother of two who is unhappily married. After she is battered by her husband, they run away together. When the long arm of the law catches up with them, their life of love ends.

By now, Sony is a media celebrity nicknamed "the Woo Woo Kid." Teenage boys try to imitate him, and grown men are baffled by the adoration heaped upon him by women. While he is in exile, Sonny goes gaga over Francine (Beverly D’Angelo), whose husband is a serviceman overseas. This time, the teenage Casanova is sentenced to six years in a juvenile hall for his affair with an older woman.

Phil Alden Robinson directs this comedy in a relaxed manner, giving special accent to its kooky elements. In the Mood rings true in its treatment of how men and women differ in their celebration about love. And it celebrates romance as something special which keeps a relationship glowing.