The plot concerns a young couple and their hideously deformed baby. Not much more can be said to describe the plot but here is a sort of synopsis!

Henry comes home from work and is told by the beautiful woman accross the hall from his apartment that his girlfriend Mary has called on the payphone. Henry goes to Mary's house where he is introduced to her parents. They have a dinner of man made chickens (just cut em up like regular chickens). Mary's mother tells Henry that Mary has had a baby (although they are still not sure that it IS a baby) and that after he and Mary have gotten married they may pick the baby up from the hospital.

Once Henry and Mary have picked up the baby Henry sees a lady in his radiator and strange spermy things begin showing up in his miniature cubbard and performing exotic dances. Mary has enough of life with Henry and their constantly squalling baby and goes back home to Mom. Henry takes this opportunity to have a short lived affair with the woman across the hall.

After being rejected by the woman across the hall Henry visits with the woman in the radiator (who has very puffy cheeks indeed). Then his head pops off and is found by a young boy in the street. The boy takes the head to a pencil factory where it is made into erasers. Then Henry is seen in the radiator world where the radiator woman comforts Henry and sings and dances and squashes the spermy things and assures him that in heaven everything is fine. Unfortunately it isn't because Henry has somehow returned to his apartment and cut up the complaining baby (which has developed an unsightly facial rash but has a normal temperature). Shaving cream and slime fly out of the baby and it turns into a paper mache lizard or something and threatens Henry. Then everything turns out okay and the lady in the radiator and Henry embrace, hopefully to live happily, if oddly, ever after.

What does all of this mean? Who cares! This film is so much fun and that it is impossible to be sidetracked rational thoughts. It is also filled with dark and disturbing images. It was a spectacular and dareing feature film debut for Lynch and remains one of his best films.