Plot
Housewife Judy Bernly starts work as a secretary at Consolidated Companies after her divorce and is placed under the supervision of sharp-tongued widow Violet Newstead. Both work under president Mr. Hinkle and egotistical, sexist vice president Franklin Hart.
When Hart turns down Violet for a promotion in favor of the less-qualified Bob Enright, Violet confronts him in his office when his secretary, Doralee Rhodes, follows Violet and subsequently learns about the rumor that she's having an affair with Hart. Discovering the rumor is a lie, both women hit a bar to drink away their frustration. Meanwhile, Hart fires Maria Delgado after learning from his loyal assistant, Roz, that Maria discussed her salary with a co-worker. Disgusted by Hart's cruelty, Judy joins Violet and Doralee at the bar.
They spend the evening smoking marijuana at Doralee's house and fantasizing about how they would get revenge on Hart: Judy would hunt him with a gun and mount his head on a wall, as he does to animals on his hunting trips; Doralee would turn the tables on sexual harassment, hogtie him rodeo style, then roast him over a fire; and Violet, in a fairytale-like sequence, would poison his coffee and throw him out the window. The next day, a distracted Violet accidentally puts rat poison in Hart's coffee, mistaking the box for the nearly identical box of sweetener. Before he can drink it, his desk chair malfunctions and he blacks out after hitting his head on a credenza.
Violet realizes her mistake and thinks the poisoned coffee caused Hart to black out. She and Judy meet Doralee at the hospital just in time to overhear a doctor pronounce a man dead from poisoning. Thinking the dead man is Hart, Violet steals the body to prevent an autopsy, but while arguing with Judy and Doralee, she crashes her car, damaging a fender. When Doralee retrieves a tire iron from the trunk to fix the fender, she discovers the body is not Hart so they return it to the hospital.
The next morning, Hart shocks the women when he arrives for work as usual. In the ladies’ room, Doralee explains that Hart hit his head but did not drink the coffee. Relieved that nothing will come out of the night's events, the ladies agree to meet for happy hour at the end of the day. However, Roz overhears their conversation and reports back to Hart.
Hart summons Doralee to his office and offers her a choice: if she spends the night with him, he will not report her, Judy, and Violet for attempted murder. Doralee refuses, and when Hart will not hear her out, she hogties him and stuffs a scarf in his mouth to keep him quiet. He tricks Judy into loosening the binds, which leads her to shoot at him with Doralee's handgun, nearly committing murder.
The women discover that Hart has been selling Consolidated inventory and pocketing the proceeds, so they decide to blackmail him into keeping quiet. When they are told that invoices Violet ordered to prove the crimes will not arrive for 4 to 6 weeks, they kidnap Hart and hold him prisoner in his bedroom.
While Hart is out of the office, Doralee forges his signature and in his name, they implement several programs that are popular with the workers, including an in-office daycare center, equal pay for everyone, flexible hours, and a job-sharing program allowing employees to work part-time.
Days before the invoices arrive, Hart's wife Missy returns from a cruise and frees him, giving him the time to buy back the inventory he sold. Before Hart can report Judy, Doralee, and Violet to the police, the chairman of the board Russell Tinsworthy arrives and congratulates Hart on his improvements to the office, which have resulted in a 20 percent increase in productivity. Tinsworthy invites Hart to join him on a multiyear project in Brazil, which he reluctantly accepts.
A postscript states that Violet is promoted to vice president. Judy marries the Xerox representative. Doralee leaves Consolidated to become a country & western singer. Hart is abducted by a tribe of Amazons in the Brazilian jungle and is "never heard from again".
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