Housewife and mother Ruth Patchett (Roseanne Barr), an overweight and unkempt woman, can seem to do nothing to make her husband, Bob (Ed Begley Jr.), happy. When he becomes embroiled in an affair with romance novelist Mary Fisher (Meryl Streep), Patchett does all she can to ignore it until Bob finally leaves her for Fisher. Bent on revenge, Patchett begins an intricate undertaking that will lead to the destruction of all that Bob holds dear -- and she also has plans for Fisher while she's at it.