Maid to Order
Jessie Montgomery (Ally Sheedy) is a spoiled rich girl in her mid 20's whose hard partying lifestyle and lack of self-respect as well as a lack of respect for others is starting to wear thin on her widowed father Charles (Tom Skerritt), a wealthy philanthropist, and on her boyfriend Brent (Jason Beghe), who breaks up with her over her immature and self-destructive behavior. When Jessie is arrested for drunk driving and drug possession, she finally pushes Charles beyond his limits. He is frustrated and disappointed. While in the company of family retainer Woodrow (Theodore Wilson), he says the one thing he thought he'd never say....he wishes he'd never had a daughter. In pops Stella Winston (Beverly D'Angelo), a fairy godmother who has been assigned to the Montgomery family. To keep Jessie from ruining her life, Stella casts a spell "erasing" Jessie's life as it is, as if Charles did never have a daughter. Then she bails Jessie out of jail.
When Jessie tries to go home, her father doesn't recognize her and claims that he has no daughter. Stella appears and tells her that she's getting what she deserves. She tells Jessie that if she wants to eat and have a place to sleep, she'll have to find employment. Jessie, who has never worked a day in her life, is forced to find work as a live-in maid for an eccentric couple named Starkey (Valerie Perrine and Dick Shawn) who got rich by winning the lottery some years back.
Jessie has to interact with the other mansion staff, consisting of former singer-turned-cook Audrey (Merry Clayton), Hispanic servant Maria (Begoña Plaza), and chauffeur Nick (Michael Ontkean), a struggling songwriter. Jessie learns the true meaning of love, friendship, hard work, and self-respect. When she chooses the happiness of her new friends over her own, she is rewarded with having her old life returned to her, albeit vastly improved.
alternate reality, satire