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When she was younger, Dolly was a renowned PR consultant in New York City. She was so well-known that she had achieved celebrity status in her own right, as she was instrumental in rehabilitating the careers of many Hollywood luminaries. However, she was also impulsive and made decisions which she didn't fully think through. One of these decisions involved a lighting display for a glamorous party she threw, where she filled hanging acrylic trays with a mixture of boiling oil and water intended to create a dramatic backdrop and impress her celebrity guests. The effect is certainly dramatic, but not in the way that Dolly imagines: the boiling liquid melts out of the light displays, burning and disfiguring most of her high-profile guests. This accident ruins Dolly’s reputation and destroys her financially.
Dolly is forced to take any job she can in order to support her daughter Lulu, who is furious with her and embarrassed by her. Her perilous circumstances make Dolly feel obligated to take on a very morally questionable job, rehabilitating the image of a dictator known euphemistically as the General. It's well known that The General is responsible for massive genocide and tyranny in his unnamed country, and he's facing enormous international and local opposition. Despite her distaste for the task, Dolly's desperation, and her desire to win Lulu’s love back, push her to accept the job. Seeing an opportunity, she tries to kill two birds with one stone by involving the controversial actor Kitty Jackson in this rehabilitation effort. Kitty has lost several jobs and alienated sponsors and employers through her activism and outspokenness. She’s becoming a pariah and is in danger of losing her career. She needs to work, and so as a last resort she accepts Dolly’s offer to represent her.
Kitty, Dolly, and Lulu travel to The General’s country to meet him and orchestrate a photo opportunity. Though Dolly is alarmed by the poverty and the fearful silence that cast a pall over everyone they meet, she tries to maintain a brave face for Lulu. Just as she thinks she might have pulled off this Hail Mary pass at regaining her success, Dolly’s carefully calibrated PR plan goes awry when Kitty loudly and publicly questions the General about his crimes. There's a brief, panicked moment where Dolly thinks that she has endangered all of their lives by trusting Kitty. Although she feels guilty about it afterwards, this spurs her to abandon Kitty when The General’s soldiers take her prisoner.
Dolly is very relieved when Kitty is released because of the US media outcry that Dolly’s leaked story and photos cause. Even though The General is eventually forced to change his government’s policy from tyranny to democracy because of Dolly’s work, she still feels she’s morally compromised herself. Instead of taking up her career as a PR agent again, Dolly moves to upstate New York and starts a gourmet shop with the hush money The General pays her. Ironically, Dolly ends up happier than she has ever been because she and Lulu are able to bond over their shared traumatic experience.
