The fictional story takes place in 1960, centering around Conrad Birdie, a hip-thrusting rock and roll superstar akin to Elvis Presley; his agent, Albert Peterson; and Albert's secretary and love, Rose Alvarez. Albert finds himself in trouble when Conrad is drafted into the army, so he and Rose come up with a last-ditch publicity stunt: Before he is sent to the army, Conrad will give one lucky girl a kiss on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The lucky girl is chosen randomly from Conrad's fan club, and it happens to be Kim MacAfee. Rose, Conrad, and Albert set off to her house in Sweet Apple, Ohio to prepare for the event. However, things don't go quite as planned; Kim's father becomes dumbfounded at the prospect of being on The Ed Sullivan Show, Kim's boyfriend becomes disastrously jealous of Conrad, and Conrad himself becomes tired of the show business life and tries to teach the kids how to party!

Pictures from the Footlighters' production of Bye Bye Birdie can be found in the Photo Gallery.