Violet Sanford wants to be a songwriter and gets the courage to leave her hometown and her lonely father for New York in hopes of starting a career writing music. She soon finds that living in the city is harder than she had thought. She's unemployed and begining to give up, but then she hears about a job at a bar called Coyote Ugly. It takes some doing, but she pursuades the bar owner, Lil, to give her a chance. All the bartenders are beautiful women and she wonders how she will fit in. Whe she arrives for her first night of work, the bouncer tells her it's a quiet night. But when she goes in, it's loud and full of men. Two of the other bar tenders are on the bar with a man with his shirt pulled up and pouring beer on his chest. She later meets a guy who she thinks is going to listen to her music and possibly offer her something, but it turns out he's just an average joe. She gets angry, but he doesn't give up. He becomes a big part of the movie.