 The Dirty Shame is the only bar in the small town of Paradise, Michigan. A burnt out, chain-smoking fortyish bar maid is the only waitress at The Dirty Shame. A group of local red necks conspiring to bring a mail order bride to their Midwest town for their ne er-do-well leader set the story in motion. These red necks trick Viktoria, a beautiful, bright girl from Ukraine, into coming to their town. The fact that her husband-to-be is a yet to be reformed misogynist twice her age, puts a kink in Viktoria s plan to start a new life in America. When Reenie reluctantly takes the new girl in, she discovers Viktoria has no ticket home. Trying to help Viktoria earn her way home, Reenie finds a less than willing pupil in the ways of middle America life. As the two women struggle to overcome barriers in language, culture, age, and life experience, strong bonds of friendship form. As each crafts their respective versions of the American dream, Paradise and those inhabit it, adapt to Viktoria more than she adapts to them, and Reenie triumphs over the life to which she had surrendered.