In 1990, Joy Mangano is a divorced mother of two, working as a booking agent for Eastern Airlines. She lives with her two young children, her mother, Terri, her maternal grandmother, Mimi, and her ex-husband, Tony. in working-class Peconic, New York. Joy's divorced parents fight whenever her father, Rudy, shows up at her house. Joy's older half-sister, Peggy, is an overachiever who constantly humiliates Joy in front of her children for her failed marriage. Peggy and Rudy are very close, and Terri spends all day in bed watching soap operas, leaving Joy to run the household. Only Mimi, and Joy's best friend, Jackie, encourage her to pursue her inventing ambitions..