Pepper Dennis is a beautiful and ambitious reporter with her sights set on anchoring Chicago’s top-rated evening news broadcast. Just when Pepper thinks she’s about to land her dream anchor job, her hot new guy, Charlie Babcock, shows up in the newsroom and steals the job out from under her. Complicating Pepper’s daily life is her needy and recently separated sister Kathy, who has moved in with her. Only Pepper’s close friends and co-workers, makeup artist Kimmy and cameraman Chick, seem to feel her pain.

Pepper decides to go undercover to bust a prostitution ring at a club and sees someone unexpected there. Back at the station, she finds herself in a compromising position with Babcock during a sexual-harassment seminar, casuing her to reconsider her feelings for him. Meanwhile, Kathy reconsiders her divorce and agrees to go back to her husband.

Pepper’s personal anger during a live interview lands her on the couch of the company shrink, who forces her to confront her issues with Charlie. Meanwhile, Kathy’s desire to please people leads Pepper to discover dangerous hazing rituals at a college fraternity, leading one of the pledges to hold everyone in the frat house, including Pepper, hostage at gunpoint.

Pepper's fluff piece about a high-society wedding she is attending takes a serious turn when the bride vanishes, but Pepper has a bigger problem to deal with: her mother is also on the guest list and tries to pair her up with any eligible man she can find at the event.

Pepper tries to change her image after testing as too harsh and intense with viewers, but her attempts to soften up go horribly wrong and sink her ratings even lower. Babcock offers to help, but Pepper finds his advice difficult to follow.