Best friends Thelma Dickinson and Louise Sawyer set out for a weekend vacation at a fishing cabin in the mountains to take a break from their dreary lives in Arkansas. Thelma, a ditzy housewife, is married to a disrespectful and controlling carpet salesman, Darryl, while sharp-tongued Louise works as a waitress in a diner and is on�off dating an easygoing musician, Jimmy, who spends most of his time on the road.
On the way, they stop for a drink at a roadhouse bar, where Thelma meets and dances with a flirtatious stranger, Harlan. When he takes her outside to the parking lot to get some fresh air, he starts kissing her and taking her clothes off without her consent. Thelma resists, but Harlan becomes violent and then attempts to rape her. Louise finds them and threatens to shoot Harlan with the gun that Thelma brought with her. Harlan stops, but, as the women walk away, he yells that he should have raped her, telling them "I should have gone ahead and fucked her", before insulting Louise when she turns around. In a fit of rage, Louise responds by shooting Harlan in the chest, killing him instantly. A horrified Thelma ushers Louise to the car and the pair flee the scene.
At a motel, they discuss how to handle the situation. Thelma wants to go to the police, but Louise fears that no one will believe Thelma's claim of attempted rape since Thelma was drinking and dancing with Harlan, and they will be subsequently charged for murder. They decide to go on the run, but Louise insists that they travel from Oklahoma to Mexico without going through Texas. Something happened to Louise in Texas several years earlier, and Thelma suspects it was something similar to what had happened with Harlan but Louise vehemently says she will not talk about it. Heading west, the women come across an attractive young drifter, J.D., who Thelma quickly falls for, and Thelma convinces Louise to let him hitch a ride with them. Louise contacts Jimmy and asks him to wire transfer her life savings to her. When she goes to pick up the money, she finds that Jimmy has come to deliver the money in person, and the two spend the night together. Jimmy proposes to Louise, but she refuses. Meanwhile, Thelma invites J.D. to her room, and they sleep together. She then learns he is a thief who has broken parole.
