Elaine (Katharine Ross)’s Timeline and Summary

When Elaine first goes on a date with Ben, he acts in a completely obnoxious way: taking her to a strip club.
Elaine starts crying when the stripper starts twirling her tassels in her face; she runs out in tears.
She accepts Ben's sincere apology and they end up having a great date, chowing down on fast food and sharing their anxieties about their futures.
But after Ben confesses that he had an affair with her mother, Elaine doesn't want to see him anymore. She goes back to Berkeley.
She tells Ben that her mother claimed he raped her, but she believes him when he insists that's not true.
She tells Ben she'll consider marrying him, but she's already sort of engaged to a guy named Carl Smith.
Elaine's parents take her out of school and fast-track her wedding with car.
Ben tracks Elaine to the wedding with Carl, where, looking radiant in her white gown, she spontaneously runs away with him, infuriating everyone else present at the wedding.
They escape onto a city bus where their initial elation morphs into worry and uncertainty.