One morning, "mouse-burger" Melody "Mel" Wilder is diagnosed with
laryngeal cancer, then fired from her thankless job and abandoned by her boyfriend. With nothing left to lose, and given only two months to live, she spends her entire life's savings to rent a palatial loft in
Greenwich Village. Thinking she'll never have to pay the landlord, she lives off her credit cards, and fills the loft with high-priced products. She seduces both the parcel-delivery man and a pizza delivery girl and teaches herself to play the electric guitar she's romanticized since childhood. These life affirming experiences transform her irrevocably, as she discovers a passion for life and the will to live. ==Reception==