Lavinia and Suzette, former rock groupies and best friends, reconnect after twenty years; one is still as wild as ever, while the other has adopted a more conservative lifestyle.

In West Hollywood, Suzette, now on the far side of middle age, has always been a party girl, leading a life solely for the here and now. When the here and now leads to her without a job, no money and thus no sense of whether her partying life has gotten her anywhere, she decides to go into her distant past to visit in Phoenix an old friend, Vinnie, who she has not seen or talked to in twenty years. In their shared past, Suzette and Vinnie were Los Angeles groupies coined the Banger Sisters for their penchant to sleep with any and all rock musicians who came through Southern California. Suzette does know however that Vinnie's life has changed, she married to Raymond, a lawyer who has political aspirations, the two who have two teenaged daughters. It is in part the reason she decides to visit now well off Vinnie, to see if she will lend her some money. Suzette reconsiders when she finds out just how far Vinnie has changed. She now goes by her full given name Lavinia, and is not only the model of conservatism and respectability, but will go to extreme lengths to control this respectable agenda, which probably does not include a friend from their wild past. Suzette guesses that Vinnie's family may not know about her past life. If Suzette does decide to see Vinnie, she may upset Vinnie's apple cart for good or bad. Suzette's life is also mutually affected by Harry Plummer, a man she picks up on the way to Phoenix. With an extreme case of OCD, fifty year old Harry is a failed Hollywood screenwriter who is returning to his hometown of Phoenix to conclude some business regarding what he considers his failed life.—Huggo

When Suzette (Goldie Hawn) is fired from her job as bartender at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles by a younger corporate manager with no time for nostalgia, she feels alone, aware of getting older, and in need of money, so on a whim sets out for Phoenix, Arizona to see former best friend, Vinnie (Susan Sarandon). Stranded at a service station without money to buy gasoline, Suzette picks up neurotic, agoraphobic, middle-aged writer Harry Plummer (Geoffrey Rush), heading to Phoenix to permanently deal with his father's negative influence over his life, and willing to pay for gas along the way. On arrival in Phoenix, Suzette has a chance encounter with Vinnie's 17-year-old daughter Hannah (Eva Amurri), who she finds collapsed and abandoned by her friends after a bad experience with LSD. Suzette brings her to Harry's hotel room and cares for her, as Hannah starts throwing up. In the morning Suzette drives Hannah back to her parents' elegant suburban home, with a cover-story about the teenager having become ill after mixing red and white wine the previous night. But Suzette is shocked by what she sees, Vinnie --- now Lavinia Kingsley --- appears to be a radically different character to the one she knew 20 years ago; now with a conservative respectable lifestyle, portraying the conventionally "perfect" wife and mother --- a role which prompts one daughter to ask Suzette, "Did she ever do anything wrong?" Raymond (Robin Thomas), Vinnie's lawyer husband and aspiring politician, is also unaware about his wife's wilder past. Initially horrified by Suzette's sudden appearance, even attempting to bribe her to leave quietly, Lavinia starts to reminisce with Suzette, and warm to her presence. Lavinia cuts her hair and casts off her expensive but boring clothes and, just for one night, relives the 'old days' by going dancing with Suzette. They return to Vinnie's home, and down in the basement she retrieves some memorabilia of their previous life, including a collection of Polaroids of the penises of numerous "musicians and a few roadies." They share a marijuana joint, which inadvertently sets off the smoke detector, waking up the household. Ginger has a minor car accident, with everyone gathering at the hospital. Vinnie has an identity crisis during a family argument, where Hannah blames Suzette for disrupting their lives. Suzette leaves and calls Harry telling him she's going back to Los Angeles. Vinnie follows Suzette and they have a heart to heart that ends up with them sitting atop a "Got Milk?" billboard sign to watch the sunrise. The pair go to the hotel room to find Harry has left. Suzette fears the worst as Harry has taken a gun with him. They find Harry going to see his father --- deceased in a cemetery. While Suzette tries to talk sense into Harry, Vinnie loses her patience and bumps into him with the car. Suzette takes the gun and shoots the single bullet into the air. Harry finally comes to grips with his dead, absentee father. In the end, both Lavinia's husband and her two daughters have understood that she is only human after all. In her graduation speech, Hannah speaks out against anything that is "fake" and urges her schoolmates, teachers and the parents present to "do it true." The following day, Suzette returns to Los Angeles together with Harry, who has come to consider her as his muse.—Peter Brandt Nielsen

In Los Angeles, when the bartender Suzette is fired from the club where she works, she decides to travel to Phoenix and visit her friend and also former groupie of twenty years ago Vinnie to borrow some money. While on the road, she runs out of gas and without any money, she accepts to bring the stressed loser writer Harry Plummer and in return he would pay for the gasoline. When she meets her old friend, now Mrs. Lavinia Kingsley, she finds a very conservative and traditional housewife, married with the successful lawyer Raymond Kingsley and mother of two complicated teenagers, Hanna and Ginger. Their interaction along a few days improves their lives.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil