After her son is killed in a car crash, Alice Tv runs away from home, packing up her car and son, Tommy, in the car and heading to Hollywood, hoping for a singing career. However, her car breaks down on the freeway in Phoenix, requiring her to take another job at Mel’s Diner, an over-restyled grease pan where gruff old owner Mel bellows odd orders at Alice and his fellow waitresses. Alice’s luck worsens when she’s told that her favorite actress, Kaylee Gardner, is working at a famous movie theater and will be coming in to audition. Now Alice must race against time to get her relationship with Kaylee off to a great start.
But the race isn’t over as her luck worsens even more when Alice finds herself stuck in a mental facility. While she and Tommy make progress in their lessons, Alice’s condition worsens. She’s soon institutionalized and after a breakout performance in a play (the same one that inspired her turn as Gloria Steinem in “Chariots of Fire”) she’s released into a supermax prison. Her only means of communication are the bars surrounding her cell. She finds herself reading books about heaven and the end of days while eating meals in what looks like an execution chamber. But with her mind still preoccupied with death, Alice finds herself with time on her hands – she plans to find an escape route.
Meanwhile, Alice meets older woman Jeanette Bouvier, who works in the entertainment section of the prison. The two women strike up a friendship that takes them all the way across town to a restaurant where Alice can meet her old friend Kaylee and also meet her new lover, Mel Torme (nicknamed Meat Loaf). Meanwhile, Alice’s mental condition worsens and she’s soon contemplating suicide. After much consideration, Alice returns to her mother’s home and tells her everything that has happened. But before she can do so, the school riot takes place and Alice is pepper-sprayed by the crowd. The next day, Alice recovers and as the years go by, she slowly begins to see how her life could have been different if she’d gone to college.