Hairspray was John Waters' first PG-rated film. Its heroine is Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake, making her film debut), an overweight "hair hopper" who dreams of being a Council member on TV's Corny Collins Show, an extremely popular after-school TV dance program based on a real-life Baltimore program called The Buddy Deane Show. Amazingly enough, her dreams come true and she soon finds herself vying for the coveted Miss Auto Show title. But these are turbulent times for Baltimore. Blacks and whites are strictly segregated, especially when it comes to something physical and public like dancing on TV. When a demonstration in favor of integrating The Corny Collins Show lands Tracy in reform school, the issue is raised to a new level.