Larry Tyne and his wife Lynn return home one evening to find that their teenage daughter Jeannie is not there. (Viewers know she is attending an audition, clips from which, with upcoming artistes like Carly Simon and Kathy Bates, recur throughout the film). The Tynes ring the Divitos, with whose daughter Jeannie is supposed to be, but the Divitos' daughter claims she doesn't know where Jeannie is. Enlisting their friends Tony and Margot, the two men search the neighbourhood bars while the women stay by the phone and gossip about sex. When the men return home drunk, Jeannie reappears, only to vanish again. Next day, Larry goes into the city to search for her. In the street he meets Ann Lockston, a parent who's also searching for a missing daughter, and Ann tells Larry about a self-help group for parents in their predicament.