A feminist activist organization determined to bring attention to superficiality and the rampant objectification of women in modern American society chooses the 1985 Miss California Beauty Pageant as the site for its disruptive guerrilla demonstration. The group meets in Santa Cruz, Calif., and orchestrates its own competition -- one that attracts media attention and shocks passersby with its thought-provoking and satirical alternate reading of the institution of the American beauty pageant.

A young man, Austin, running from the law seeks refuge in a small country church. Taking the youth group hostage it becomes a standoff between him and the sheriff. When the sheriff realizes his daughter is among the hostages he begins to consider small town vigilante justice. Time is running out for Austin and it's up to the hostage negotiator to save his life and the youth pastor to save his soul.