Where are you going Where have you been movie plot

The pace of the film seemed very slow to me. I think this was to show how little happens in the little town that they lived. So Connie and her friends found out that they could have fun with boys. Also during the progression of the film one sees the emotional strain between Connie and the rest of her family. This was seen through the course of the movie. They put the family arguments in after and before Connie made bad decisions about going to the diner. I feel like she just needed to get away from her Mom's disapproving eye. So when she left after these arguments she went to the comfort of other people's arms. The very end was different from the short story in that the reader didn't see Connie come back to her house. So the plot in the movie was mostly the same except the very end when Arnold brought Connie home.