Ajax star rating resets when focus lost (jquery)

Question

Hi Guys,

I am using following code for ajax rating system

jQuery.fn.rater = function(url, options)
{
    if(url == null) return;
    var settings = {
     url       : url, // post changes to 
     maxvalue  : 5,   // max number of stars
     curvalue  : 0    // number of selected stars
    };

    if(options) { jQuery.extend(settings, options); };
    jQuery.extend(settings, {cancel: (settings.maxvalue > 1) ? true : false});

    var container = jQuery(this);
    jQuery.extend(container, { averageRating: settings.curvalue, url: settings.url });

    var raterwidth = settings.maxvalue * 25;
    var ratingparent = '<ul class="star-rating" style="width:'+raterwidth+'px">';

    container.append(ratingparent);

    // create rater
    var starWidth, starIndex, listitems = '';
    var curvalueWidth = Math.floor(100 / settings.maxvalue * settings.curvalue);
    for(var i = 0; i <= settings.maxvalue ; i++) {
     if (i == 0) {
      listitems+='<li class="current-rating" style="width:'+curvalueWidth+'%;">'+settings.curvalue+'/'+settings.maxvalue+'</li>';
     } else {
      starWidth = Math.floor(100 / settings.maxvalue * i);
      starIndex = (settings.maxvalue - i) + 2;
      listitems+='<li class="star"><a href="#'+i+'" title="'+i+'/'+settings.maxvalue +'" style="width:'+starWidth+'%;z-index:'+starIndex+'">'+i+'</a></li>';
     }
    }
    container.find('.star-rating').append(listitems); // i am using find here, because the span wrapped in the small style would break children()

    if(settings.maxvalue > 1) // add a container for the ajax result
    {
     container.append('<span class="star-rating-result"></span>'); 
    }
    var stars = jQuery(container).find('.star-rating').children('.star');
    stars.click(function()
    {
     if(settings.maxvalue == 1) // on / off
     {
      settings.curvalue = (settings.curvalue == 0) ? 1 : 0;
      jQuery(container).find('.star-rating').children('.current-rating').css({width:(settings.curvalue*100)+'%'});
      jQuery.post(container.url, { "rating": settings.curvalue });

      return false;
     }
     else
     {

      settings.curvalue = stars.index(this) + 1;
      raterValue = jQuery(this).children('a')[0].href.split('#')[1];
      jQuery.post(container.url, { "rating": raterValue }, function(response){
       container.children('.star-rating-result').html(response) 
      });
      return false;
     }
     return true;
    });

    return this; 
}

The problem is that when I click on something else other than stars, rating reset itself. Do you know how to make it not lose its value?