Sheryl Bradshaw, a single woman looking for a suitor on a hit 1970s TV show, chooses charming bachelor Rodney Alcala, unaware that, behind the man's gentle facade, he hides a deadly secret.
Woman of the Hour is based on the stranger-than-fiction true story of Cheryl Bradshaw and Rodney Alcala. Bradshaw was a bachelorette on the hit '70s TV matchmaking show The Dating Game and chose handsome and funny bachelor No. 3, Rodney Alcala. But behind Alcala's charming facade was a deadly secret: He was a psychopathic serial killer.
In 1977 Wyoming, serial killer Rodney Alcala takes photos of a woman in the plains. After he gets the woman to open up about her painful breakup with an ex-boyfriend, he strangles her. He revives her, then strangles her to death. In 1979 in the city of San Gabriel, Amy is a young runaway who lives on the streets and steals occasionally. Rodney spots her sitting at a motel and claims that he can take photos of her and she can launch a career as a model. She agrees to accompany him as he drives to an isolated location. In a desert during sunset, Rodney proceeds to photograph Amy, then ambushes her. In 1971 New York City, Charlie is a flight attendant moving into a new apartment. She sees Rodney taking photos across the street and asks him to help her move furniture into her home. After helping her, Rodney assaults and kills Charlie.
In 1978 Los Angeles, Sheryl Bradshaw was an aspiring actress going on auditions. Her agent, Helen, coaxes her to appear as a contestant on the TV show The Dating Game, telling her it might lead to her big break. Sheryl thinks going on the show is beneath her, but her friend Terry reasons it is a good opportunity for the workaholic Sheryl to meet potential suitors. She shows up at the studio to tape the episode and is prepped to go on camera. The show goes live and the three bachelors, who are hidden from Sheryl's view behind a partition, are displayed to the camera. Bachelor #3 is revealed to be Rodney.
Laura, a member of the audience, recognizes Rodney as the man she saw with her friend Alison, who was later found murdered at the beach. Uncomfortable, she goes to her car and tells her boyfriend, Ken, her suspicions about Bachelor #3, but he dismisses her concerns, reassuring her she could be mistaken and that the contestants are likely vetted by producers. She goes to the security guard on the show and asks if she can speak to a producer, but he falsely directs her to the janitor instead.
As the show goes on, Sheryl decides to go off-script because she feels the written questions she is supposed to ask the bachelors are sexist and insulting. Rodney can make a better impression than the other two bachelors, and he ends up winning the "date", with the prize being tickets to visit Carmel with Sheryl.
After the taping, Rodney and Sheryl go out for drinks. He tries to ingratiate himself with her by showing familiarity with the plays she talks about, but when she playfully teases him, his mood changes quickly, and he becomes threatening. When Sheryl walks back to her car at the studio, Rodney insists on walking with her. He asks for her number but realizes it is fake. When he threateningly whispers at her, Sheryl anxiously races to get inside her car and is nearly attacked by Rodney in the deserted parking lot. At this point, however, a group of people exit the studio, Rodney walks away, and she manages to escape. The next day, Laura reports Rodney's appearance to the police but is dismissed when she can't name him.
Later, in 1979, San Gabriel, a bound, bloodied, partially nude Amy, wakes up in the desert next to Rodney. Rodney is crying, and Amy acts as if she is embarrassed by the situation to get him to trust her. She convinces him to remove her restraints and go back to his place. When they stop at a gas station, she runs away. Cops appear and arrest Rodney.
A postscript states that after Rodney's arrest, he was released on bail while awaiting trial despite many testimonies, after which he murdered a woman and a young girl. He was re-arrested in 1979. In 2010, he had a chance at acquittal, but the runaway, now an adult, testified against him. The postscript states that Rodney's true number of victims may be as high as 130. Sometime after her Dating Game appearance, Sheryl left California to live a private life and raise a family. Rodney died in prison.
