Lilah Krytsick (Sally Field) is a New Jersey housewife and mother by day, but by night she tries to make it as a stand-up comedian in a New York club called the Gas Station. Although it's catapulting her home life into chaos, Lilah can't surrender her dream. Steven Gold (Tom Hanks) is a medical school student by day, but he can't stand the sight of blood and eventually flunks out to pursue the only thing he's really good at--making people laugh. Steven has a strong grasp of the secret to good comedy material, which Lilah has yet to learn: the best routines are based on one's personal problems. When, with Steven's help, Lilah learns to overcome her inhibitions and discovers how to intimately reveal herself and her predicaments as a mother and housewife, she at last excels on stage.