Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills 1989

Recently widowed Clare Jacqueline Bisset, a former television sitcom star, invites her next-door neighbor Lisabeth Mary Woronov to stay with her while Lisabeth’s house is fumigated. Lisabeth’s brother Peter Ed Begley Jr. arrives with his new bride To-Bel Arnetia Walker, an African-American woman. To-Bel had a fling in Hawaii with Howard Wallace Shawn, Lisabeth’s ex-husband, who shows up unexpectedly and begs Lisabeth to take him back.

“a freaky little act of God.”

Clare’s Chicano manservant Juan Robert Beltran owes $5,000 in gambling debts to June-Bug Jerry Tondo, an Asian gangster. When he is unable to pay, June-Bug slashes Juan’s cheek as a warning to pay up. Juan turns to Lisabeth’s chauffeur, Frank Ray Sharkey for help. Frank bets he can seduce Clare before Juan can bed Lisabeth. He agrees to pay $5,000 if Juan wins—on the condition Juan sleeps with him if he loses. Juan accepts Frank’s challenge. Frank, unable to seduce Clare, laces her drink with sedatives and tricks Juan into thinking he bedded her. Juan sleeps with Lisabeth but denies it to avoid tarnishing her reputation. Juan honors the bet and sleeps with Frank.

Howard and Lisabeth’s teenage son, Willie Barret Oliver has cancer which is in remission. After he confides to Juan he had a wet dream, Juan loans him porno tapes and encourages him to masturbate. To Willie’s surprise, To-Bel appears as a leather-clad dominant in one of the tapes. The tape inadvertently gets mixed up with one of Clare’s old sitcom episodes. When Clare shows it to guests after Sidney’s wake—not realizing the tape is pornographic—To-Bel quickly cuts the power to avoid embarrassment. When Willie gives her the tape, To-Bel is so grateful that she agrees to help him lose his virginity by sleeping with him.

Clare attempts a comeback soon after her husband Sidney dies (though she is haunted by his ghost). She suffers from bulimia and enlists help from Mo Paul Bartel, a paunchy Beverly Hills weight loss doctor. She invites a reporter for brunch to write a feature about her comeback. The brunch is a disaster: everyone exposes their partners’ infidelity or gleefully reveals their own sexual indiscretions. After Clare’s housekeeper Rosa Edith Diaz frightens her with Aztec philosophy cloaked in New Age babble, the reporter abruptly leaves and Clare accuses everyone of sabotaging her comeback.

Mo persuades Clare and Sidney’s much younger daughter, Zandra Rebecca Schaeffer to accompany him to Africa—ostensibly on a hunger project, though he warns her they will share a tent there. After Peter sleeps with Clare, To-Bel and Howard rekindle their relationship and leave together. Juan and Lisabeth fall in love and book a romantic holiday. As their limousine is about to leave, June-Bug returns, but Frank gives Juan the money to repay his debt. Sidney’s ghost appears again to pester Clare. After she persuades him she must undergo self-improvement alone, Sidney’s ghost vanishes for good.