
After her husband is killed in a trucking accident, Alice packs up the car and her son, Tommy, and heads to Hollywood, dreaming of a singing career. Her car breaks down in Phoenix, forcing her to take a job at Mel's Diner, a greasy spoon where gruff owner Mel barks orders to Alice and her fellow waitresses.

Alice encounters a flasher and Flo faces a handsome ex-husband who wants another divorce.

An elderly American Indian claims that the diner is built on his tribal burial grounds and announces that he has come there to die.

Mel hires a man to work at the diner for more money than he is paying the waitresses.

Alice is moonlighting as a singer, and the lack of sleep is making her tardy.