Billie (Mariah Carey) and her boyfriend Dice (Max Beesley) break up.

In their separate apartments on opposite sides of the city, they are shown spontaneously writing a new song: she is writing the words, he is writing the music. Amazingly, it is exactly the same song, “Never Too Far”. Yes, psychic songwriting.

Later that same day, on the way to her Madison Square Garden debut (signposted in the film’s first five minutes when the young Billie is asked what she wants to do when she grows up: “I want to sing at Madison Square Garden”), Billie goes to Dice’s apartment and finds the sheet music on the piano. She kisses it, magically leaving a bright red lip print even though she is wearing pale pink lipstick.

Dice comes home and finds the lip print. He immediately rushes out the door to see Billie at Madison Square Garden. As soon as he leaves his building, however, he is shot dead in the street.

Backstage, Billie’s entourage nervously wait for her to arrive. She is late, and no one knows where she is. They see the news of Dice’s shooting on the TV. Even though this is huge news, and could possibly explain why she has not yet arrived for her first concert in front of 20,000 people, someone snaps the TV off in the middle of the report saying, “I hope she wasn’t with him.”

The concert starts. Billie walks out on stage and stops the music, delivering a speech about not taking anybody for granted. She starts singing “Never Too Far”, the song she and Dice had been writing earlier that same day. Magically, she knows all the words and the melody – and so does her fully orchestrated back-up band and lighting director.

Back in her dressing room, she discovers a single red rose and a note from Dice which includes the line “I’m so glad to know you came by today”, even though he was shown leaving the house as soon as he saw her lip print and could never have written, nevermind have delivered, a note. The note also says that he has tracked down her long-lost mother.

Billie gets into her stretch limo and drives all night to a house in the country in Maryland where her mother, previously shown to be a homeless drug addict ferreting through dumpsters, now lives.

Billie emerges from the limo in the morning light, still wearing the floor-length fishtail beige sequinned dress she was wearing on stage and clacks up the hill to the house.

Her mother sees her and runs down the hill. They embrace and cry.

Music swells, crane out, roll end titles.

Glitter was released on September 11, 2001.