SYNOPSIS:

Stella LaBelle is a has been pop-star whose only friends are personal assistants bankrolled by her boss and ex-boyfriend Richard. After Richard proposes to her arch-nemesis Naomi, Stella makes a scene in a nightclub that gets caught on video and mocked on national TV. As punishment for embarrassing them, Richard and Naomi force Stella to go on tour again and promote a greatest hits album. At an autograph signing Jay, a shy teenager, gives Stella his demo tape, she is impressed by his music and invites him to work for her. However, Jay's mom, Mrs. Esposito refuses her offer until Stella and Jay work together to persuades Mrs. Esposito to change her mind. Shortly after Jay starts working for Stella, he loses interest in developing her mediocre music and accepts an offer to work for another record label. To keep him from leaving, Stella sacrifices her own career to promote his first single all the way to the top of the billboard charts. As Jay's stardom rises, Naomi, Mrs. Esposito and even Jay force Stella to concede her responsibilities as Jay's manager to other seemingly more qualified individuals until Stella displays leadership and grace under pressure by completing Jay's concert performance after he and half of the crew fall ill with food poisoning. After this incident, Mrs. Esposito promotes Stella to head concert manager and gives her responsibility for watching over Jay during his world tour. Rather than protect him from the temptations of life on the road, Stella lets Jay get booed off stage for showing up late and lets him get his heart broken by a gold digger so that he learns these life lessons himself. Then Stella gets a phone call: Mrs. Esposito, barely 43 years old, has suffered a major heart attack. Within one hour she gets Jay on a flight back to L.A., gets Naomi's father, California's best heart surgeon to save Mrs. Esposito's life and prevents a riot by performing to a sold out stadium crowd in Jay's place. Months later, Mrs. Esposito is fully recovered and living a healthier lifestyle than before. Jay releases a hit single giving thanks to Stella and Stella's stardom is hotter than it ever was before. Nevertheless, Stella confides to Jay her plans to retire from her career as a recording artist to pursue a new, yet unknown career. Then hand in hand Stella and Jay go on stage to perform one final concert together.

THE POP-STAR