In the movie, she was played by Ellen Burstyn, who won an Academy Award for the role.
While still young, she marries truck driver Donald Hyatt (Billy Green Bush), whom did not want his wife being a singer at a nightclub.
She rents a motel with a kitchen, and finds a job as a singer at a piano bar, where she meets a charming younger man named Ben (Harvey Keitel).
She struggles with her new job at first, but eventually gets the hang of it with help from the cynical head waitress, Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry (Diane Ladd).
She also meets local, divorced farmer named David (Kris Kristofferson), and they fall in love.