At a Detroit theater showing kung fu films, Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) strikes up a conversation with Elvis Presley fanatic Clarence Worley (Christian Slater). After the triple feature show, Alabama invites Clarence for pie. They converse at a diner, where he asks her multiple questions, one of which is, "Do you have a fella?" Later that night, they have sex at Clarence's apartment in downtown Detroit. Clarence awakes to find Alabama huddled in blankets, crying on the ledge of a large billboard ad outside of his window. She tearfully confesses that she is a call girl hired by Clarence's boss as a birthday present but has fallen in love with Clarence. He takes it in stride and they marry the next day.
An apparition of Elvis (Val Kilmer) visits Clarence and convinces him to kill Alabama's pimp Drexl (Gary Oldman). Clarence goes to the brothel where Alabama worked, shoots and kills Drexl, along with Drexl's sidekick, Marty, and takes a bag he assumes contains Alabama's belongings. Back at the apartment, he and Alabama discover the bag contains a large amount of cocaine.
The couple visit Clarence's estranged father, Clifford (Dennis Hopper), a former cop and now a security guard, for help. After checking around with some old cop friends, Clifford tells Clarence that the police assume Drexl's murder is a gang killing. After the couple leave for Los Angeles, Clifford is interrogated by Don Vincenzo Coccotti (Christopher Walken), consigliere to a mobster named "Blue Lou Boyle", the mobster whom Drexl had been doing business with and who is now after the cocaine. Clifford, realizing he will die anyway, mockingly defies Coccotti. Infuriated, Coccotti shoots Clifford dead. A note on the refrigerator leads the mobsters to Clarence's Los Angeles address.
In Los Angeles, Clarence and Alabama meet Clarence's friend Dick (Michael Rapaport), an aspiring actor, and his roommate, Floyd (Brad Pitt). Dick introduces Clarence to a friend of his, actor Elliot Blitzer (Bronson Pinchot), who reluctantly agrees to broker the sale of the drugs to film producer Lee Donowitz. While Clarence is out buying lunch, Coccotti's underboss, Virgil (James Gandolfini), finds Alabama in her motel room and beats her for information. She fights back and kills him with his shotgun.
Elliot is pulled over for speeding and arrested for drug possession. To stay out of jail, he agrees to record the drug deal between Clarence and Donowitz for the police. Coccotti's crew learn where the deal will take place from Dick's roommate Floyd. Clarence, Alabama, Dick, and Elliot go to Donowitz's suite at the Ambassador Hotel with the drugs. In the elevator, a suspicious Clarence threatens Elliot at gunpoint, but is persuaded by Elliot's pleading.
Once in the hotel room, Clarence fabricates a story for Donowitz that the drugs were given to him by a corrupt cop, and Donowitz agrees to the sale. Clarence excuses himself to the bathroom, where a vision of Elvis reassures him that things are going well. Donowitz and his bodyguards are ambushed by the cops and mobsters and a shootout begins after Elliot accidentally reveals himself as an informant. Dick abandons the drugs and flees. Almost everyone is killed in the gun battle, and Clarence is wounded as he exits the bathroom. He and Alabama escape with Donowitz's money as more police arrive. They flee to Mexico where Alabama gives birth to a son, whom she names Elvis.
