Suzanne Stone (Nicole Kidman) lives in the small town of Little Hope, NH where she is the weather forecaster for a local cable channel. But even with such a small role on television, Suzanne lives in a fantasy world of breaking out into stardom. She sleeps with men with the hopes they will further her career even though they, themselves, are so uninfluential in the world of television. Still, it seems she will stop at nothing to become a star. Married to Larry (Matt Dillon), Suzanne looks on him with disgust because he doesn't fit into her ideal of becoming famous. Rather than just divorce him, she solicits the help of Jimmy (Joaquin Phoenix), a high school boy, to murder him. Carried away in her world of fantasy, the only one who seems to burst her bubble as a fake is her sister-in-law Janice (Illeana Douglas).