Fired Up

Terry Reynolds, longtime assistant to Gwen Leonard, creative executive at a Manhattan marketing and promotions firm, announces to Gwen that she's been let go from her job. The self-centered Gwen's reaction is predictable: she wonders how this will affect her. But she soon finds out that she's a victim of the same corporate downsizing. A few months later, Gwen shows up at the SoHo loft where Terry lives with her brother Danny, an aspiring writer who works at the bar downstairs run by Guy Mann. Without Terry to look after her finances, Gwen has spent all her money and has run up unpayable debts, resulting in her being kicked out of her high-priced condo. Desperate, she pleads with Terry to let her stay with her until she can get back on her feet. Part of that effort includes filing for unemployment benefits, where Gwen is confronted with the unsympathetic civil servant Mrs. Francis. Later Gwen tells Terry that their talents compliment each other and that they should go into business for

Gwen's intimidating, emotionally distant mother Rita comes to the door, and she finds herself in a situation similar to Gwen's. The most recent of her old, rich husbands has died and left her practically nothing. Now she is more ill-prepared to face the world without money than Gwen was. Despite Terry's disdain for her mother, Gwen tries to show her what she's learned in the past several months about living practically, including an attempt to cook a chicken. But it looks like Rita may have found another suitably rich suitor. Also, Guy is feeling pressure from other area bars and he turns his place into a Western-themed saloon to try and compete, much to Danny's chagrin.