| Director | David Anspaugh |
|---|---|
| Genre | buddy film, comedy drama, crime film, drama film |
| Runtime | 92 min |
| Country | Canada, United Kingdom, United States |
| Budget | $11 million |
Returning from Missouri as a medical school dropout, Meg Kennedy moves to Staten Island, New York City, staying with her grandmother due to not having found a place for herself. With the recommendation of Mrs. Saladino, a woman who looks after Meg's grandmother, Meg takes work at an Italian restaurant, run by Gio Esposito. At first, Meg makes mistakes and fails to live up to Esposito's expectations. However, she soon proves her worth by saving the life of a restaurant patron from a gunshot wound. Meg becomes a well known waitress by the restaurant's customers and saves enough money from her tips to buy her own apartment.
Meg befriends two other waitresses: Kate, who aspires to be a Broadway star, and Raychel, an outspoken, brassy woman. The three become close friends and make a pact to meet once a year at a particular bar. Meg also opens up to them about recent loss of her fiancé. Despite this, Meg becomes aware that the restaurant is not only mob-owned, but also a front for drug-dealing operations of which Raychel and possibly Kate appear to be aware. Struggling to pull her life together, Meg finds it harder to accept monetary tokens from restaurant owner Mr. Santalino, while also fending off the romantic advances of his son, Frankie.
Things come to a breaking point when Esposito drunkenly assaults Meg in the face. Frankie and Mr. Santalino kill him while Meg watches in horror. Frankie forces Meg at gunpoint to cut Esposito's body up into little pieces so they can dispose of his body in a meat grinder. Later as distraught Meg tells Kate everything and lets her know that she plans on leaving town. Kate reveals that she is an undercover police officer and that she had recorded everything Meg said. The police then tap Meg's necklace and put her back undercover at the restaurant, hoping that Mr. Santalino or Frankie will confess to the murder of Esposito.
During her shift later that night, Meg pretends to have a headache and goes to get an aspirin from Frankie but fails to get a confession from him. Meg tries to warn Raychel, who was promoted to manager, to get out of the restaurant before the police come but is interrupted by Frankie and his group. Meg later sees Mr. Santalino, and gets a confession out of him. Meg thanks him for his heroics and he subsequently promises to do what he did to Esposito to any other man who hurts her. In the process, Mr. Santalino notices Kate watching and he rips Meg's necklace off, horrified at her betrayal. In a gun fight, Kate shoots Frankie dead while she is also shot. Meg attempts to save Kate's life but Mr. Santalino attempts to shoot her. Before he can do so, Raychel shoots him dead and she is arrested. Meg tries to use a knife to save Kate's lungs from filling up with blood, but is ultimately shot by Kate's partner, Garcia, who consequently realises that Meg was saving her.
A year later, Raychel lays flowers at Meg's gravestone. Kate, who survived thanks to Meg, visits Raychel at the bar they made a pact to meet every year. Kate lets Raychel know that she was the reason she got off on probation. She then reveals Meg, who survived and jokes that she'd have to kill Raychel if she told her how she survived. The trio share a drink together and express their adoration for each other.