Slums in Beverly Hills? Well, they must exist as writer-director Tamara Jenkins based the story on her own personal experiences. It is 1976 and Vivian (Natasha Lyonne) is going through a difficult stage in her young life. Her father, Murray (Alan Arkin), is oblivious to his daughter's traumas. Divorced and unemployed, he has been left with the responsibility of raising three children. Despite his financial difficulty he is determined to reside somewhere in Beverly Hills, because he is convinced that the schools are better there and that, while furniture is temporary, education is forever. The apartment that they move into is at the bottom end of the accommodation price range. The family is augmented by the arrival of Rita (Marisa Tomei), Murray's niece, who has just come out of drug rehab and is pregnant. Rita moves into the cramped apartment and shares Vivian's room and becomes the unlikely female role model that Vivian needs. The film shows through humour the pain of adolescence and the embarrassment of experiencing menstruation, facial hair and burgeoning breasts, to name a few things.