Phyllis Newman

A prince awakens a princess with a kiss, though she rejects his romantic advances (as she argues that she hasn't even been engaged yet and has missed the entire courtship period) and runs away. The princess says that she has ambition and drive. An American beautician named Joy Miller (Fran Drescher) does odd jobs in the TV industry, performing hair and makeup duties on the Lotto girl before she goes on air for her brief appearance. Joy lives with her parents Jerry (Michael Lerner) and Judy (Phyllis Newman). Judy asks Joy to settle in life and not keeping waiting endlessly for her to fulfill her ambition. Joy is adamant that she will not marry until she meets the right guy. Joy teaches students at a night beauty school (to supplement her income) to groom hair but is put out of business when one of her students accidentally ignites hair spray with his cigarette, eventually leading to the school burning down. Joy ends up being highlighted in a newspaper New York Post article after she helps her students, and the caged animals escape the building successfully. Joy had made several trips inside a burning building, but made sure that she rescues all the animals, including a python that she takes in her handbag. The article is seen by Ira Grushinsky (Ian McNeice), a diplomatic representative of a small Eastern European country called Slovetzia (bordered by Hungary, Romania, and Ukraine), a country she never heard of. Ira has been sent to the United States to find a tutor for the Four children of Slovetzia's President, and, mistakenly thinking that Joy is an academic teacher, offers the job to her. However, she misinterprets his job offer as teaching hair-styling. Although she has never heard of the country, she accepts the job despite her initial hesitation. Ira says that the job pays $40,000 per year. It is only after they arrive in Slovetzia that Ira realizes his error. Ira thought that Joy was a science teacher, and she says that she didn't even pass science in school. By then it is too late, and Joy agrees to keep up the ruse of being a "real" teacher for the time being. The initial meeting of Joy with the President, a dictator named Boris Pochenko (Timothy Dalton), gets off on the wrong foot. Boris prepares a full military guard to welcome Joy, but she ends up being late for the appointment as she was still busy putting on make-up. Boris warns Joy not to take her job lightly. He wants her to prepare his kids to face the western world and wants Joy to be prompt and efficient. Joy gets along well with his four children Katrina (Lisa Jakub), Karl (Adam LaVorgna), Yuri (Kyle and Tyler Wilkerson) and Masha (Heather DeLoach). Karl is very uptight, like his father, and wants Joy to teach him about the decadent American ways. Katrina is warm and inviting and is open to new ideas and thoughts. Joy teaches them of life outside Slovetzia (like the concept of Democracy, frequent flier miles, risk of cancer due to sun exposure) and helps them gain confidence in themselves. Joy encourages Karl to pursue his dream of becoming an artist, who feels pressured to be more like his father. Katrina tells Joy that all she wants to have is sex (her concept of sex is holding hands and eating ice cream), and wants to date a boy. Katrina says that her marriage is already confirmed to a prince, as per Boris' wishes. Joy encourages Katrina to speak to Boris directly, but he is enraged instead. Boris is adamant that Katrina will have an arranged marriage, as is the custom of their society. Joy frequently clashes with Pochenko, who is disturbed by her fierce independence and the fact that he cannot frighten her. Joy tells Boris that he is only ruling his children by fear and that he needs to earn their respect. Joy's presence in Slovetzia is due to Pochenko's desire to change his reputation among other Western nations as a "beast". His second-in-command, Leonid Kleist (Patrick Malahide) is against Pochenko's "softening" strategy and wants to crush the growing rebellion among Slovetzia's youth. Joy eventually learns that Katrina is in love with Alek (Timothy Dowling), one of the leaders of the youth rebellion. Joy finds Katrina outside the castle, and she takes Joy to a hidden nightclub, where she meets Alex. Unfortunately, Katrina is followed by the castle guards and Alek is captured by Pochenko. Joy secretly helps Katrina sneak to his cell to see him. A summit of visiting emissaries is arriving in Slovetzia to meet with Pochenko, and Joy convinces him that the best way to prove that he is a modern-thinking man would be to throw a party for visiting emissaries during a summit meeting to debut his new image. She encourages him to form closer relationships with his citizens and shaves his mustache. During a trip to a factory, Joy realizes that Slovetzia lacks trade unions and encourages the workers to hold a strike. Joy is put in charge of preparations, and during this time she and Pochenko grow closer. As part of the summit, Boris considers releasing Alek despite Leonid's disapproval. On the evening of the dinner, Joy confesses that she is not an academic teacher, but by this time Pochenko does not care about her credentials, only that she has brought happiness to him and his family. Later, Leonid confronts Joy with the fact that she has been helping Katrina meet Alek. When this information is brought to Pochenko, he argues with Joy on her meddling. Following Boris' decision to keep Alek in jail, Joy informs him that she had set up meetings between Alek and Katrina; he argues with Joy over her meddling in Slovetzia's political affairs. Joy decides to leave Slovetzia for good. Some months pass. Leonid has quietly taken over administrative duties and signing sentences in Pochenko's name. Pochenko, made aware of this fact by Ira, confronts Leonid and strips him of his duties. Pochenko realizes that he has spent many months depressed and discontent after Joy's leaving and decides that it is time to change his ways. Joy is back at home with her parents. She has also been depressed after leaving Slovetzia, but then receives a surprise visit by Pochenko. Boris informs her that he has freed Alek and agreed to hold free elections in Slovetzia. Boris kisses Joy after admitting his feelings for her.

In Ancient Egypt, Ema 'Emmy' Hesire, a young princess, is hiding from her mother inside a pyramid disguised as a mummy. Emmy is against her arranged marriage, and prays to the gods to be united with her true love in the future. Strangely, Emmy suddenly vanishes before her mother's eyes. In present-day Philadelphia, Jonathan Switcher is a young artist working in a mannequin factory. Jonathan takes his time perfecting one he is working on, which angers his boss, who claims he needs to be working on quantity than quality. After protesting, Jonathan is fired and attempts to find other jobs, but his artistic passion also gets him terminated from most of them. One evening, after his motorcycle breaks down in the rain, he passes by some windows being property of the department store Prince & Company and is surprised to see his mannequin in the window. The next morning, Jonathan returns to the store and ends up saving the life of its owner, Claire Timkin, from her own fallen shop sign. Claire becomes very grateful and offers to find Jonathan a position in the department store. Viewed with suspicion by the security guard, Captain Felix Maxwell, Jonathan works with and befriends flamboyant Hollywood Montrose, the store's chief window dresser. Jonathan eventually finds the mannequin he created and is surprised when it comes to life with Emmy's spirit, when he is alone. She explains she has existed for centuries as a muse, sometimes possessing the works of an artist she admires and inspires. Emmy then explains the gods allow her life when she is alone with Jonathan, who is unsure once he is dreaming or has gone insane. The next morning, Jonathan wakes up in a newly created window display advertising tennis equipment and sportswear, unsure once he dreamed all this or not. The window display begins to attract massive attention, bringing shoppers back to Prince & Company. The landmark store has been losing shoppers to a newer, trendier department store called Illustra located across the street. Prince & Company's conniving manager, Daryl Richards, is secretly being paid by Illustra's owner, B.J. Wert, to convince Claire to sell her store to him. However, after the recent floor traffic seen on account of Jonathan's window display, Claire feels that Jonathan could be the key to saving her store. Much to Richards' disgust, the store's board members promote Jonathan to visual merchandising. Over the next several weeks, Jonathan and Emmy continue their secret romance and keep improving the creativity of the store's window displays, which bring a tremendous number of customers and profits for the store. Jonathan soon receives a call from his former girlfriend, Roxie Shield, who works for Illustra. Jonathan meets her for lunch at a French restaurant, where Roxie says that Illustra wants him to be their chief window dresser. Jonathan explains that he cannot do this, considering that he likes working at Prince & Company, as well as working with a very beautiful woman there, enraging Roxie, causing her and another co-worker to sneak into Prince & Company after hours to take pictures of Jonathan and his supposed girlfriend. However, they are shocked when they see what appears to be Jonathan getting intimate with a mannequin. Jonathan's window designs continue to be the talk of the town and business continues to bloom at Prince & Company, leaving B.J. seething and threatening to fire most of his workers once his store's sales do not improve. Claire has been very impressed with Jonathan's work and soon after promotes him to vice president of the department store, after she fires Richards and Felix, for their accusations towards Jonathan. Meanwhile, he chooses to celebrate that evening by taking Emmy for a ride through the city on his motorcycle, despite how unusual this seems to bystanders. However, he is encountered and accosted by Roxie again, claiming he needs to seek help and begs him again to come to work at Illustra. Jonathan denies again, claiming that he has people at Prince & Company who care about him and someone who makes him feel special. Richards and Felix, who are sitting in a car around the corner of the store, plan to go into steal Emmy, but sees her and Jonathan speeding past on the motorcycle. Richards and Felix give chase, with their car getting stuck in a narrow alleyway. Later that evening, Jonathan and Emmy enjoy their time alone in the store, before Emmy leaves his side to take her place in one of the windows. However, Richards and Felix have also come back to the store to steal Emmy, only are unsure which mannequin is her. Being desperate, they simply steal every one from the display room, unaware they are being watched by security cameras. Jonathan wakes up the next morning and is informed of this design by Hollywood while the customers applaud him. Jonathan immediately suspects Illustra's workers are behind this, and he and Hollywood drive over there. Jonathan confronts Richards, Roxie and B.J., demanding to know where Emmy is in the store. Roxie storms out, with Jonathan following her, while being pursued by the store's security guards including Felix, Richards and B.J. Roxie runs into the storeroom and loads the female mannequins into a large trash compactor, then is knocked out by falling debris. As Hollywood holds back the pursuers with a fire hose, Jonathan goes into the room and a janitor watches Jonathan jump onto the compactor's conveyor belt to save Emmy slowly moving to her doom. Jonathan grabs her and Emmy comes to life, grabbing his arm, as he pulls her out and the janitor shuts down the compactor. Once safe, Emmy realizes she is alive again and now free from her ancient curse, she thanks the gods for uniting her with her true love and Jonathan vows to love her forever. While the janitor wonders once other mannequins will come to life, Hollywood arrives and suddenly realizes Emmy was alive the entire time. In the aftermath, the store guards, Felix, Richards and B.J. all barge into the storeroom, along with several police officers, who B.J. orders to arrest Jonathan for trespassing, but Claire arrives to convince the officers that she has video footage of Richards and Felix sneaking into Prince & Company to steal Emmy and the officers arrest Felix, Richards and B.J., who fires Roxie as they are all hauled away. Some time later, Jonathan and Emmy are married in the store window of Prince & Company, with Claire as maid of honor and Hollywood as best man, as well as numerous pedestrians watching them exchange vows.

The platonic friendship between two high school youths is explored through the attempts to get the girl an abortion. Her young male friend offers his support and tries to find her a doctor. She is grateful, but has trouble in expressing her thanks. At times funny, at other times touching, this is a refreshing, uncommon look at teenage friendship. —Anonymous