Mona Dearly (Bette Midler), who recently passed away, was many things: an abusive wife, a dominating mother, a loud-mouthed neighbor, and a violent malcontent. Therefore, when her car and body are recovered in the Hudson River, police chief Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito) quickly assumes murder and not an accident. Rash's murder investigation is hampered, however, by the fact that the whole neighborhood of Verplanck, New York, despises this unrelentingly cruel woman. As a result, the number of possible suspects is overwhelming.