FISHBOWL was adapted from three chapters ("Obituary," "A Fishbowl and Some Dimes," and "Blah, Blah, Blah”) Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers by award-winning Hawaii writer, Lois-Ann Yamanaka.
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Hawaii, 1975. It's Halloween and for 13-year-old Lovey Nariyoshi, it's a chance to be someone different. As an outsider with an overactive imagination, Lovey is regularly bullied into silence by her nemesis the smart and seemingly perfect Lori Shigemura, who is the head of a popular girls club, the Rays of the Rising Dawn. Rather than fight back, Lovey is prone to escaping into fantasy scenes in her imagination, where she turns into the bold and courageous girl that she wishes she could be.
In the classroom, Lovey is terrorized by her teacher for using Pidgin English, a Hawaiian-style patois that's considered an inferior form of Standard English.
On the way home from school she is even betrayed by her best friend Jerry, an effeminate boy whose dream is to become an honorary Ray of the Rising Dawn. Rather than sticking by Lovey, he abandons her in a weak moment and tries to entertain Lori.
But that Halloween, all is forgiven when Jerry dresses her up as their singing idol, Toni Tennille for Halloween. With the help of a curling iron, Jerry fixes her bad perm and transformed, they become the dynamic singing duo, The Captain and Tennille. Determined to win the $10 prize at the annual Halloween costume contest, they venture forth to the estate of the plantation owners, confident they will win the annual Halloween costume contest.
But the evening quickly goes awry. When Jerry sees that another contestant will probably win the costume contest, he gives in to temptation and convinces Lovey to help him steal money and candy. In his excitement, he trips in front of everyone, his dimes and chocolates flying and landing all around him. Humiliated, Jerry flees the scene and Lovey follows him.
Lovey angrily confronts Jerry trying to get him to return to the party, insisting they still have a chance to win. When he refuses, Lovey calls him a sissy. It is Jerry's turn to feel betrayed and he runs home. Abandoned and at a loss, Lovey falls into one of her wishful fantasies where she imagines she's won the contest and belts out to the startled crowd--including Lori and her cohorts--a Hawaiian arrangement of the Captain and Tennille hit, “Love Will Keep Us Together.”
The next day in class, Lovey tries to help Jerry with a traumatic writing assignment. When Lori intercedes, Lovey is finally able to stand up for herself to Lori's taunts. Even her teacher looks at her with newfound respect. At last, Lovey finds her voice and her self respect.