Post-collegiate angst, '80s style, is the subject of this coming-of-age ensemble piece, which traces the fortunes of a group of Georgetown grads as they enter the real world and grapple with work, infidelity, and adulthood. The most outwardly upscale member of the gang, Jules ( Demi Moore ), hides a plethora of emotional baggage behind a chic wardrobe, an expensive apartment, a fashionable drug habit, and lots of meaningless casual sex. Her friend Wendy ( Mare Winningham ) has the opposite problem; a trust-fund baby with body-image issues and little sexual experience, she's hung up on Billy ( Rob Lowe ), a no-good, sax-playing drunkard who can't face up to his responsibilities in the job market or at home with his wife and young child. Such open infidelity is anathema to Alex ( Judd Nelson ), who must maintain a sense of propriety even while engaging in compulsive womanizing; after all, the Democrat-turned-Republican's nascent political career requires the sort of picture-perfect relationship he shares with girlfriend Leslie ( Ally Sheedy ). That doesn't sit too well with tortured writer Kevin ( Andrew McCarthy ), who toils away at a newspaper job and pines away for the unattainable Leslie. Unrequited love also dogs Kirby ( Emilio Estevez ), a law-school student whose greatest wish is to romance classy doctor Dale Biberman ( Andie MacDowell ), who is, alas, way out of his league. Co-written by director Joel Schumacher and his studio intern, Carl Kurlander , St. Elmo's Fire spawned the number one pop hit St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion), which was credited to John Parr but co-written by music producer David Foster . ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide