New Yorker Miranda Presley (Samantha Mathis)--no relation to the King--buses it to Nashville and arrives with her guitar and the dream of making it big in country music. She meets other twentysomethings at the Bluebird Café, a popular local nightspot/talent showcase: Linda Lou Linden (Sandra Bullock), a sweet, talentless southern girl who becomes Miranda’s roommate; Kyle Davidson (Dermot Mulroney) a Connecticut Yankee with country dreams and crush on Miranda; and River Phoenix as James Wright, a moody, talented musician to whom Miranda is drawn. These four hopefuls struggle with life and love as they try to achieve success.