Waitress Louise (Susan Sarandon) persuades her friend Thelma (Geena Davis) to escape her sexist husband and join her on a driving holiday. When they stop off at a country bar, Louise ends up saving Thelma from an attempted rape - shooting and killing the rapist in the process - and the women consequently find themselves forced to go on the run. Along the way their money is stolen by a handsome cowboy (Brad Pitt) and they begin holding-up convenience stores, feeling strangely liberated by their new-found assertiveness. Harvey Keitel stars as the detective who attempts to talk the heroines into giving themselves up.