I won't regurgitate the story here, since so many others have done so. What I will say is that I think a lot of the critics are missing the point when they talk about how the romance/svengali detracts from the central premise.
What the early part of the movie shows quite well is how fundamentalist religion is, by its very nature, about control and power, especially over women.
So it's not a surprise that Jem would go from a situation such as that into another relationship where there's a power imbalance. She's used to not having control of her life, so when someone else offers her a chance to relinquish control but for something she believes is love, she jumps at the opportunity.
I particularly love the ending, because it appears as if she is starting to realize that she needs to take control of her own life, instead of letting someone else have that control (whether that someone is controlling in a dominating fashion or a loving fashion).
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