Punjabi-speaking Shalini Singh lives a middle-classed lifestyle in the Himalayan region in India along with her mom, Kirat; dad, Jaspal; brother, Happy; and sister, Littly, and was engaged to Neil Brar as a child. Years later Neil re-locates to the United States of America, and there is no contact between him and the Singh family but Shalini hopes to marry and live with him eventually. When pressure is applied on her due to Littly's future marriage, she travels to California, where Neil is reportedly employed with Can'tAct Celebrity Management, an agency that represents Hollywood artistes. To her shock she finds him in the arms of a blonde named Nicole, and he refuses to have to do anything with her, leave alone marry her. She is then befriended by Robert Shorwell, a Caucasian male and co-worker of Neil, who offers to Americanize her so that she can win back Neil (but also to win the bet with his boos Beau Bridges who plays Gary Gordon), to which Shalini agrees but writes to her family in India that all is well with her and Neil. Robert, and his friend, Blaine, successfully transform Shailini to an a much more acceptable female of Hispanic origin, re-name her Shelley Picante, and prepare her to woo and win back Neil. Before she could even begin to do that the Singh family arrives in California - not only throwing her plans and her life in chaos - but also exposing Robert's secret agenda for Americanizing her.