A hard-driving movie executive. A beloved soap opera diva. A screenwriter nominated for an Oscar. A well-known actress married to TV's King of Late Night. Four women who have led charmed Hollywood lives; four friends facing middle age in the youth capital of the world.

Show business sucked them in when they were young, and now it's trying its best to spit them out. But these women aren't finished fighting tooth and nail - albeit bonded tooth and acrylic nail - to enjoy the success they spent their youth pursuing. Especially when one of them ends up in the intensive care unit, a victim of a stalker with a gun.

The ritual "Girls' Night" they have always shared for refuge and laughter tonight becomes a painful vigil as three women watch their friend fight for her life. And as they wait and worry they do what they have always done to keep themselves sane: tell stories about themselves. Tales of love affairs, wonderful or hilariously awful; of professional triumphs and betrayals.

Bittersweet anecdotes about the sexism and ageism all four have encountered - the pain it takes to make the world believe in the glamour that is Hollywood. The stories remind them of why they're fighting and let them laugh together and celebrate the friendship that has made it all worthwhile.

1. But beyond the hospital the stalker is still undetected, still obsessed, not just with the victim but with all four women. They have lived the sunny side of the California dream, and the attacker has been left out in the dark. Without the old bonds that have linked them for years, the women will not survive this chilling night.