Set to the pulsating rock and roll songs of the early '60s, Dirty Dancing is a romantic , sexy story about an awkward yet ending 17-year-old girl who slips into womanhood during an eye-opening family vacation at a Catskill lodge in the summer 1963. Caught up in the music and the rhythm of the period, she falls in love with a charismatic working-class dance instructor who introduces her to the excitement of Dirty Dancing.