Page "Five Easy Pieces" Paragraph 2

Classical pianist Robert Dupea ( Nicholson ), who comes from a family of musicians, works in a California oil field.

Most of his time is spent in bowling alleys, drinking beer in the trailer of his friend, Elton ( Bush ), or with his waitress girlfriend, Rayette ( Black ).

When he learns that she is pregnant, and his friend Elton gets arrested for having robbed a gas station a year earlier, he quits his job and leaves for Los Angeles where his sister, Partita ( Smith ), also a pianist, is making a recording.

Partita informs him that their father has suffered two strokes and urges him to return to the family home on Puget Sound.

He tells Rayette that he must go to see his father and reluctantly agrees to take her along.

On the way, they pick up two lesbians headed for Alaska whose constant chatter about " filth " increasingly annoys Robert.

The four of them are thrown out of a restaurant when he gets into an argument with a waitress who refuses to accommodate his special order.

Eventually, Robert reaches his destination.

Embarrassed by Rayette's lack of polish, he registers her in a motel and goes to his family home.

At dinner that night, he meets Catherine Van Oost ( Anspach ), a young pianist engaged to his brother, Carl ( Waite ), a violinist.