WALT, SNOWY and PETE are three regulars at the local coffee shop in a small, Northern town.  They occupy the booth day after day, “solving” the problems of the world and enduring the playful barbs of the shop’s proprietor, DENISE, over an endless string of re-fills.  So permanent are the trio in their booth that locals have given them the ironic nickname, “The Ambition Club,” which the three embraced in good humor.  One day, LINNEA, a high-strung girl who is a high school senior at 16, arrives at the coffee shop in search of the Ambition Club under the false impression that it is a real club which offers scholarships.  When she discovers the truth, she tears up in embarrassment and flees the shop.  Denise chastises the three for making the young girl cry.  Pete, the youngest of the trio, pledges to help her by raising $500.  The next day, Pete arrives with $100 in small bills and change.  Walt, a retired millworker, berates him, claiming his real interest in Linnea is sexual even though she’s under age.  This leads to an argument which turns bitter.  Snowy and Pete leave in disgust. The next day, Linnea returns to the coffee shop to apologize for her outburst. Snowy and Walt reassure her that she did nothing wrong.  They get her talking and learn her story.  Her mother was very intelligent and motivated coming out of high school, just as she is.  Her mother got pregnant her first term in college (with Linnea) and had to return home only to be turned out by her strict parents when she refused to have an abortion.  Linnea’s stepfather was, in her words,  “The first person in town that said a kind word” to her mother.  But it did mean her mother’s dreams of an education were over.   Linnea is hoping to complete what her mother couldn’t.  Pete arrives.  He’s embarrassed because he only has $350 of the planned $500.  Walt puts in a check to cover the difference.  Confused, Linnea asks if she needs to fill out an application for this "Scholarship."  Snowy assures her she already has.