Eighteen year old Ariel is in love with her caring father, who lives with her in the upper middle class part of Vancouver. When he starts dating again, she becomes violently jealous, fails to seduce him, and turns to female boxing.
Dr. Sam Frizzell lives alone with his eighteen year old daughter Ariel Frizzell in the upper middle class Kitsilano neighborhood of Vancouver. Sam has dated little since his wife died when Ariel was a young child, he instead focusing his attentions on his daughter. With the exception of sex, Ariel has almost become a surrogate wife for Sam. Ariel, on the other hand, has taken that role one step further, she who has an Electra complex. Ariel has had behavior issues, in large part due to the circumstances around her mother's death and the way Sam has treated her since. As such, she has no real friends and she is home schooled by a tutor - a young man named Markus who often cannot control his student - as she couldn't function within a school environment. Into their lives comes Mary. As their third date, Sam thinks it would be a good idea for Mary to come to his house to meet Ariel. Mary's already tenuous dating life takes a step backward when Ariel is openly hostile toward Mary over dinner, with the evening ending with Ariel physically assaulting Mary. The assault does not sit well with Julie, Mary's sister who works as a topless boxer in a local bar. Like Ariel, Julie has anger issues stemming from her growing up period, with the boxing ring being what she believes her controlled her anger management outlet. Julie does whatever she feels she needs to both to get justice for her sister and to ensure that Mary is happy in whatever relationship she decides to embark.—Huggo
A man, Sam, and a woman, Ariel, are in what appears to be a Jacuzzi near an indoor swimming pool. Ariel is behind Sam giving him a loving backrub and, at first, it appears they might be in a relationship even though Sam is much older than Ariel. However, Sam and Ariel are revealed to be father and daughter when Sam tells Ariel of his plan to introduce her to the new lady in his life. Ariel claims to be happy for Sam but from her face--which we can see but Sam cannot--she seems stressed by this development. Their relationship continues to seem uncomfortably physically close for a father and daughter. Later, in the locker room, Ariel is confronted by other women who also think Sam is her boyfriend, but far too old for her. A fight breaks out but we don't witness the details as to what happens.
At home--a comfortable house in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighborhood--Ariel is tap dancing in front of a young man, Markus. Sam arrives and asks what they are working on. They reply that they were working on an essay, which they show Sam, and Sam notices that the handwriting is Markus', not Ariel's. Markus claims that he was merely transcribing Ariel's ideas. It appears that Ariel is a student of high school age who is home schooled, and Markus is her tutor.
After Markus leaves, Sam comments that he wouldn't mind if Ariel slept with other men. This choice of words is surprising both to Ariel and the viewer, because it suggests that up to now Sam and Ariel have been in some kind of de facto relationship, albeit one not involving physical sex. If Sam's relationship with Ariel up to now has been emotionally incestuous, however, he wants to move beyond that, because his recent date, Mary, is arriving to meet Ariel. Sam asks Ariel to be friendly and behave normally while Mary is there for dinner. Ariel agrees but comments on Sam's nervousness.
Mary arrives and makes small talk with Sam about the spaghetti. Ariel enters the room and meets Mary, and everyone notices that Ariel seems more formally dressed than everyone else. After Sam excuses himself for a few moments, Mary and Ariel continue to make small talk, and Ariel claims to be good at tap dancing. Over the spaghetti dinner, Ariel asks Mary a series of increasingly uncomfortable questions about how she and Sam met, with Ariel finally accusing Mary of burning the spaghetti sauce. Later, an angry Ariel does chin-ups in her room as Sam and Mary discuss how the dinner went. Sam feels it went very badly, unfortunately.
Ariel then asks for Sam's help, and it turns out that she claims to be in need of medical help, and Sam is a doctor. Ariel exposes her breasts to Sam and says she may have a lump. Sam says she has to see her own doctor and that it would make him uncomfortable examining his own daughter's breast. However he eventually does so: there is no lump in Ariel's breast. Ariel also speaks in openly condescending terms about Mary, and there is increasing tension between father and daughter.
Sam leaves Ariel in her room and returns to Mary. Sam and Mary discuss Ariel and it becomes increasingly apparent that Ariel is like a surrogate wife--albeit not sexually--to Sam, and this is not healthy. Sam's own wife died many years ago. Sam also comments on the incident just then with his examining Ariel's breast, and Mary finds this a little creepy. Ariel is revealed to be eavesdropping, and is extremely offended by the use of the word 'creepy'. An altercation follows, with Ariel eventually physically assaulting and punching Mary, ending the evening on a very bad note.
The scene shifts to a bar called the 'Wild Coyote'. A female boxer, Julie, has just emerged victorious in a women's boxing match put on by the bar. Although both Julie and her opponent have gone topless to fight to attract the mostly male crowd, the fight seems to have been genuine, with Julie's opponent on the canvas, knocked out and bloodied.
The atmosphere at Sam and Ariel's home after Mary leaves remains very tense.
Later, at the Wild Coyote, the bartender, Julie, and one customer are making small talk after most people have gone home. The bartender invents some tall tale about Julie being a convicted rapist. Julie is said to have been alone in a hotel room with a 480 pound male sumo wrestler named Saginaki when Saginaki attempted to rape her. The bartender claims Julie turned the tables on Saginaki and inserted her arm into his anus. Julie is offended by this--probably completely made up--story, pours her drink on the bartender, and warns him never to make jokes at her expense again.
The next day, Sam attempts to make things right with Mary, finding her outside her home and getting into her car on her way to work. Mary is wearing sunglasses, revealing that she has a black eye due to Ariel's punch. She also confesses that she was initially attracted to Sam because he is a doctor, and thought this a slightly impure reason to be attracted to Sam. She says in a way it is fitting she ended up with a black eye for this reason. Sam disagrees but they agree that it is hard to work around the problem that Ariel hates Mary. Mary asks Sam to leave her car so she can get to work and he does so.
Later that day, Mary is at work--a photo shop that she owns. Julie arrives and is revealed to be Mary's sister. Julie learns about Ariel's assault on Mary and is angered to learn that her sister has been assaulted. When Mary refuses to go to the police, Julie takes matters into her own hands, finding Sam's full name and address--Sam was originally a customer--in Mary's rolodex when Mary steps out. Julie pays Sam and Ariel an uninvited visit. She reveals that she is Mary's sister and knows of the assault, and threatens to send Ariel to prison and destroy Sam's reputation. She blackmails both into apologizing to Mary, with Ariel needing to buy Mary roses with Ariel's own money. Julie then returns to Mary's shop and invites her to an upcoming fight of hers which Mary isn't sure she will attend.
Sam fires the tutor, Markus, and says that Ariel will now have to attend a regular school. He seems really angry as Ariel attempts to mow the lawn to earn money for the roses.
At the Wild Coyote, Julie, again fighting topless, knocks out her latest opponent. Mary is not in attendance. Later Julie helps her opponent ice down her wounds, saying that she won not so much because she is tough, but she fights hard. This is fueled by her past, and Julie says the further back in your past you go, the more fuel you can find to fight with. The bartender, Irwin, doesn't buy the growing sisterhood between two women who were beating each other up moments ago. This earns Irwin another drink poured on him by Julie.
Sam--alone--delivers roses to Mary in apology for Ariel's actions. Ariel--revealed to have beaten up the other woman in the opening pool scene--tries to make amends for that incident, but is rebuffed. Sam and Mary talk of rekindling their brief relationship. Although Mary is optimistic that Sam can help Ariel get back on track, she is skeptical that Ariel will ever support their relationship. Any invitation to resume things would need to come from Ariel speaking from her heart.
Ariel, alone with Markus, the recently fired tutor, disrobes in front of him, inviting him to have sex. He refuses and they part on bad terms.
After easily winning another topless fight at the Wild Coyote, Julie is seen working out at some bleachers. Mary arrives and confronts her about the fact that Julie extorted the roses from Sam and Ariel. Mary is angry about Julie's behavior and returns the boxing tickets--which appear to be for a match yet to take place.
Julie confronts Sam again at home. Sam reminds her that she can only go so far--no matter what the consequences, there will come a point when he needs to defend his daughter. Although Julie is angry that Sam delivered the flowers alone--the apology was supposed to come from Ariel too--Sam and Julie start to talk about Sam's past. We learn more about Sam's wife for the first time. They met 20 years earlier--Ariel is 18--at a barbeque. Sam was there with his niece and nephew, and he noticed his future wife giving a puppet show for them. Sam was immediately charmed and fell in love. However, Sam's wife became ill and took her own life when Ariel was five. Ariel then arrives and, although Julie is willing to drop their dispute, Ariel is not. Ariel says that she wants to fight Julie. Julie tells her that she is a professional fighter, which Ariel knows. They agree that if Julie loses her next fight after Ariel watches, they will fight. Julie does not expect to have to make good on this promise as she has a 38-0 record.
Sam and Ariel arrive at the fight, which is a rematch with the boxer Julie defeated two fights ago. Mary also unexpectedly arrives and argues with Ariel, telling her that she can't punch her this time because her sister is there. Ariel claims to her father that this amounts to an attempt to apologize on her part. In the ring, Julie loses for the first time as a boxer. Julie congratulates her opponent on her success but turns down the offer of a date from Irwin--she is apparently not attracted to men.
Ariel then invites Mary and Julie to her home, not because it is coming from her heart, but because she wants to call Julie on her promise to fight her. At their home, while talking between themselves, Julie insists that Mary stand up for herself by pushing Ariel out of the picture. Ariel gets Sam and Mary to go on a walk together and, alone with Julie, challenges her to fight. They do, and Ariel is beaten badly.
Ariel then gives her 'permission' for Sam and Mary's relationship to proceed but warns Sam that she will be angry for awhile. Meanwhile Julie returns to the Wild Coyote and buys breakfast for Irwin, but we don't find out what they discuss. In the movie's final scene, Sam, Mary and Ariel are back at the pool. This time it is Sam and Mary who are physically touching, discussing Ariel who is swimming in the pool. Sam comments that she is still struggling socially, and Mary says it is hard to reinvent oneself.
