Natalie Tate is trying to keep her life in very neat categories. She wants to go to Yale, she wants to be like her friends, and she doesn’t want anyone to know that she lives in a trailer with her mother, Annie. Annie, on the other hand, thinks her daughter is perfect; smart, studious, polite, and completely honest. And what Annie doesn’t know will hurt her.

Ever since they moved to town, Natalie has been passing herself off as wealthy. She tells her friends and pretty much anyone who asks, that her mother is in Paris on business. But apart from these deceptions, she is trying hard to make something of her life. She is building a relationship with her boyfriend, Ben, and she is taking the SATs as often as she can in an effort to earn a scholarship.

Annie, meanwhile, is trying her hardest just to keep the two of them afloat. She works as a cocktail waitress at a trashy bar. She also plans to start selling cosmetics door-to-door in an effort to help her daughter along to a brighter future. She is so set on focusing her energies on Natalie, that when her daughter asks for a cell phone, Annie allows herself to be convinced. Despite their serious lack of financial security, she buys one. It is through this generous act, that Annie finally learns some of the truth. When her daughter forgets her cell phone, Annie answers it and discovers that instead of going to an honor society meeting, Natalie had planned a date with Ben. Rather than admit lying, Natalie rages at her mother for invading her privacy. Things are not going well between the two of them, and it is obvious to Monica, who has just moved in to the trailer next door.

The next day, while selling her cosmetics, Annie comes a cross a snobby woman named Rebecca. Rebecca is Ben’s mother, and Annie is still at the house when Natalie arrives with her boyfriend. She’s shocked to see her mother there, and tries to ignore her. To her relief, Rebecca whisks her off to get her hair done for a college recruitment party.

Later on, back at the trailer, Monica urges them to talk to each other. Natalie admits her lies, and the reasons for them. She is embarrassed. All she wants to do is fit in. Annie is still hurt, but she understands some of Natalie’s feelings. She tries to get Monica to help her become the woman that Natalie says is her mother. Monica refuses. She thinks that one deception can not be fixed by another. Annie decides to do it anyway. She shows up to the party in second-hand designer clothes, and talks on and on about Paris. Natalie is mortified, even more so when Annie blows it. The only way to salvage the situation, is for the angels to convince both mother, and daughter, to be true to themselves and to each other. They go back inside, without pretense, and talk to the college representatives.