 Ruby (Laura Dern) and Claude Montgomery (Billy Bob Thornton) is a very insecure jealous couple, because of their past sentimental life: Claude has had an affair with Ruby s older sister Rose (Kelly Preston), when Ruby was a young girl; and Ruby has had many muscled boy-friends in the past. When Claude s uncle Hazel (Jim Varney) is arrested for attempting of murder a local, Ruby and Claude travel with Rose and Jewel (Diane Ladd) to Arkansas to give their sympathy to the Montgomery family. While traveling, Jewel recalls all the time many events between Claude and Jewel, irritating Ruby. Finallt they arrive in their destiny in the breast of the Montgomery, a low middle class family with total lack of communication.