Jennifer (Sobieski) a 17-year-old mall rat takes a shine to the 49-year-old manager of a Los Angeles clothing store Randall Harris (Brooks), who also notices her. In an unlikely move, he gives her a job as a stockroom clerk, but she finds her way into the front of the store and begins to interact with - and sell clothes to - customers. As the two strike up an unlikely friendship, they realize that neither have any close friends with whom they can talk. They nickname each other "J" and "R." They spend time together, and Randall helps Jennifer get an apartment of her own by giving her an advance on her salary. He buys her a dress for work. While he can't go through with getting a tattoo, he does go with her to a cemetery to lie on graves and feel the energy of the deceased - something she does regularly. After Randall collapses in the street after taking a walk, Jennifer discovers he has a terminal disease, leukemia, and doesn't have long to live. While collecting his personal belongings for him at his home, she discovers the address of his ex-wife. While trying to contact her in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she finds she had died six months earlier, and she meets his son, a deeply cynical young man who believed his father had died before he was born. Jennifer convinces him to come back to see him before Randall dies. Because of Jennifer, they have a brief time to get to know one another. Her friendship with Randall inspires her to seek a more friendly relationship with her mother, father and stepfather. In Randall's final days, Jennifer puts on a dinner for him, in which his son, and Jennifer's parents and stepfather come together to celebrate his life.