Dot is a Los Angeles housewife who spent WWII directing Navy convoys by radio. Now she finds herself competing to become the winner of a 1950s “homemaking contest.” Poking wicked good fun at the pretentious hokum of a hotly contested pageant where things go comically wrong, Mrs. California gives us glimpses of the complex personalities that lie beneath the judge-charming caricatures the contestants have created for themselves. A commentary on the way advertising and media made women question their intelligence and worth, Mrs. California explores the consequences of striving to be the ideal woman.