Perfume, glue, cleansers, aerosol-propelled cheese -- so much chemical exposure takes its toll on unassuming housewife Pat Kramer (Lily Tomlin), who begins to shrink. She suspects her condition might have something to do with the products her ad exec husband (Charles Grodin) brings home but is too demure to speak out about it, even when her dwindling size makes her a world-renowned celebrity and provides her with a (very small) soap box to stand on. But sleeping in a dollhouse and the ever-present danger of being squished are only the start of Pat's problems. She's been targeted by the insidious Organization for World Management, which wants to make a serum from her blood that, when added to worldwide water supplies, will shrink all but a select few down to subservient proportions.