It's Los Angles and the officials of a production studio, Red Mullet, Inc., are trying to cast and prepare their next film, "Bitch From Louisiana." Among the executives and decision makers is Alex Green (STELLAN SKARSGÅRD), whose wife, Emma (SAFFRON BURROWS), is seeing a therapist (GLENNE HEADLY) about their shaky marriage and Alex's substance problems.
As a masseuse, Quentin (JULIAN SANDS), tries to relieve the stress running rampant through the studio, Alex's cohorts, including Darren (STEVEN WEBER), Evan (XANDER BERKELEY) and another unnamed executive (HOLLY HUNTER) have just informed the film's director, Lester Moore (RICHARD EDSON), that he only has a few weeks to finish casting the movie, which is particularly worrisome since he still has to find his leading lady.
Among those who'd love a shot at the part are aspiring actresses Cherine (LESLIE MANN) and Rose (SALMA HAYEK). Rose just so happens to be having an affair with Alex that has aroused the suspicions of her wealthy lesbian lover, Lauren Hathaway (JEANNE TRIPPLEHORN), who's bugged Rose's purse so that she can eavesdrop on her activities. When Alex doesn't prove helpful to Rose's cinematic aspirations, she tries to get a foot in the door any way she can, while Randy (DANNY HUSTON), the studio's security guard and resident drug dealer, tries to keep the hopefuls at bay.
As the executives listen to a film pitch by European talent Ana Pauls (MIA MAESTRO), who's accompanied by her agent, Bunny Drysdale (KYLE MACLACHLAN), as well as her boyfriend, Joey Z (ALESSANDRO NIVOLA), who supplements her presentation with some keyboard accompaniment, the multiple stories involving the various characters simultaneously unfold on the screen in four separate quadrants as the lives and behavior of those involved soon become tangled in ways none of them could have imagined when the day began.