埃琳•布罗克维奇（朱莉娅•罗伯茨 Julia Roberts 饰）是倒霉鬼中的典型。她结过两次婚，但每次婚姻都没有给她带来幸福，反而令她成了一个拖着三个孩子的单身母亲。倒霉的她在遭到一场交通事故后，连志在必得的赔偿官司到最后都输掉了。 
　　为她辩护的律师埃德（阿尔伯特•芬尼 Albert Finney 饰）半是同情埃琳半是因为帮她打输了官司心感内疚，收留了埃琳在他的律师楼里打杂。埃琳的生活算是有了一点保障。在调查一单污水申诉案时，埃琳偶然发现了污水中含剧毒物质，而供水公司确对此敷衍了事。弱女子埃琳决定用她柔弱的肩膀担负起为受污染的数百名居民讨回公道的重担！

Erin Brockovich: Hey!
George: Hello.
Erin: What are you doing making all that goddamn noise?
George: Well, uh, I don’t know we’re just introducing ourselves to the neighbors, I guess.
Erin: Well, I’m the neighbors. There we’re introduced, so shut the fuck up.
George: Oh, hey, hey, well, hold on there. Let’s start over, OK? My name’s George. What’s yours?
Erin: Just think of me as the person next door, who likes it quiet.
George: Hey, come on, don’t be like that. Look hell, we live next door to each other. And I feel bad, I feel terrible. I’m sorry, will you accept my apology? I mean hell we’re living right next door to each other if you need a cup of sugar or some cream…
Erin: I don’t need sugar.
George: You don’t need any sugar, well, why don’t I take you out to dinner to apologize for my rudeness. Huh? You give me your number, I mean I already got your address so you can’t get away, huh? And I’ll call you up proper and I’ll ask you out and everything.
Erin: You want my number.
George: I do, I do want your number.
Erin: Which number do you want? George?
George: George, now I like the way you say that “George”. Well, how many numbers you got?
Erin: Oh, I got numbers coming out of my ears, for instance ten.
George: Ten?
Erin: Yeah, that’s how many months old my baby girl is.
George: You have a little girl?
Erin: Yeah. Yeah, sexy, huh? How about this for a number six, that’s how old my other daughter is, eight is the age of my son, two is how many times I’ve been married and divorced, 16 is the number of dollars I have in my bank account. 8503943, that’s my phone number and with all the numbers I gave you I’m guessing zero is the number of times you’re gonna call it.
George: Hey, how the hell do you remember your bank balance right off the top of your head like that? That impresses me. You’re dead wrong about that zero calling...

爱琳?布洛克维克：喂！
乔治：你好。
爱琳：你在干什么？吵死人了。
乔治：噢，啊，我不太清楚，我想我们还是向邻居介绍一下自己吧。
爱琳：噢，我就是邻居。我们介绍完了，现在闭上你的鸟嘴。
乔治：噢，对了，哦，等等。我们重新开始好吗？我叫乔治，你叫什么名字？
爱琳：噢，把我当作你隔壁住的人就行了，喜欢安静的人。
乔治：噢，别，别那么气鼓鼓的。你看，我们俩就住在隔壁。我心情不好，觉得很糟糕。我很抱歉，你接受我的道歉吗？我是说，我们住在隔壁，如果你需要一杯糖或奶油什么的……
爱琳：我不需要糖。
乔治：你不需要糖，哦，我为什么不可以带你出去吃顿饭，为我的粗鲁向你道歉，啊？你给我电话号码，我是说我已经知道了你的住址，你走不掉了，呃？我会在适当的时候打电话叫你起床，请你出去，等等等等。
爱琳：你要我的号码。
乔治：对，我要你的号码。
爱琳：要哪个号码，乔治？
乔治：乔治，我喜欢你这样叫我，乔治。你有几个号码？
爱琳：比方说有个号码从我耳朵里钻了出来，是十。
乔治：十？
爱琳：对，这是我小女儿几个月大的数字。
乔治：你有个小女儿。
爱琳：对。很性感是吗？六这个数字怎么样，这是我另外一个女儿的岁数，八是我儿子的岁数，二是我结婚离婚的次数，十六是我银行存折上美元的数字。 8503943，这是我的电话号码，我给你了这么多号码，我猜你会打电话过来的次数是零。
乔治：喂，你怎么会即兴想起你的存款数目的？让我印象深刻。但你说的零次数电话绝对错误……