Starring Brooke Adams, Ione Skye, and Fairuza Balk, the film follows a waitress trying to find romance while raising two daughters in a trailer park in a small desert town in New Mexico.

Meanwhile, the younger daughter, Shade, spends most of her time watching the movies of Mexican film star Elvia Rivero and dreams of finding a boyfriend for her mother.

They eventually sleep together, and she tells him that her promiscuity is caused by the fact that she lost her virginity in a gang rape perpetrated by local boys she knew.

After her seduction attempt fails, presumably because he is gay, she runs into Javier, the local projectionist, who teases her over her outfit before giving her a ride home on his bike.

As they do not want to reveal their connection to the eavesdropping Shade, they make wry conversation where Raymond claims to work as a gravedigger and Nora as a brain surgeon.

While Trudi is away, Nora begins an affair with Hamlet Humphrey, a man who installs satellite dishes, while the girls' biological father, John, reappears.

"[2] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that "there are subtly etched characters, effortlessly fine performances, and a moving story that is not easily forgotten.