- In 1950s Baltimore, a bad boy with a heart of gold wins the love of a good girl, whose boyfriend sets out for revenge.
- Allison is a "square" good girl who has decided she wants to be bad and falls hard for Cry-Baby Walker, a Greaser (or "Drape" in John Waters parlance). Spoofing Elvis movies and Juvenile Delinquency scare films of the '50s, this movie follows the adventures of Cry-Baby who, though he is sent to juvie, is determined to cross class (and taste) boundaries to get Allison back.—Linda (& Moo)
- In Baltimore in 1954, Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker (Johnny Depp), whose ability to shed a single tear exhilarates the ladies, leads a school gang called the "drapes". The group includes his sister Pepper (Ricki Lake), a teenage single mother of two, facially disfigured tough girl Mona "Hatchet-Face" Malnorowski (Kim McGuire) and her devoted boyfriend, runaway rockabilly bass player Milton Hackett (Darren E. Burrows), and sexually precocious Wanda Woodward (Traci Lords), whose post-World War II normal parents (Maggie (Patricia Hearst) and Hector (David Nelson)) constantly embarrass her. The school has just conducted a polio vaccination day. Maggie is a traffic warden just outside of the school and Hector drives the school bus.
One day after school, Allison Vernon-Williams (Amy Locane), a beautiful upper-class girl tired of being with the "square" gang, approaches him. Allison doesn't like her "nice, good girl" image and hence seeks an adventure with the drapes. Allison and Cry-Baby fall in love just by looking at each other. Allison is pulled back by Baldwin (the leader of the squares), and her grandmother. Mrs Vernon-Williams is very critical of any teenager with long hair, tattoos, or tight pants, calling them juvenile delinquents and not fit for civilized society. That same day, Cry-Baby interrupts a talent show at the R.S.V.P. Charm School run by Allison's grandmother (Polly Bergen), and introduces himself to her, though she doubts his overall motives. Cry-Baby invites Allison to a party at Turkey Point, a local hangout spot for the drapes. Baldwin attacks Cry-Baby but he fights back, and Allison chooses to leave with him.
Despite her grandmother's skepticism, Allison ultimately accompanies Cry-Baby to Turkey Point, where Hatchet-Face, Pepper and Wanda give her a "drape" makeover before she sings a duet onstage with him. It is made clear that Mrs Vernon-Williams espouses conformity to society, while Drapes prefer freedom of choice and individual expression. Mr Hackett (Joe Dallesandro) and his wife (Joey Heatherton) patrol turkey point and warn the teenagers not to abandon Jesus. Lenora has a crush on Cry-Baby but he refuses to have anything to do with her. Lenora is very jealous to see Cry-Baby with Allison.
Later, both commiserate over their shared status as orphans: he shares that his father was sentenced to the electric chair for being the "Alphabet Bomber" (a killer who bombed places in alphabetical order: Airport, Barbershop, Carwash, Drugstore and so on) along with his mother as an accomplice, while she reveals that her parents took separate flights for safety, but one time, both of their planes went down, killing them.
During their conversation, Allison's jealous boyfriend, Baldwin (Stephen Mailer), leads a group of fellow squares in inciting a riot, vandalizing the Drapes' cars with graffiti and setting Cry-Baby's motorcycle, which was a birthday gift from his uncle Belvedere Ricketts (Iggy Pop) and grandmother Ramona Ricketts (Susan Tyrrell), ablaze. The squares then attack Turkey Point and harass everyone (including beating the Drapes), before the police arrive. Baldwin claims to Allison that it was the Drapes who attacked the Squares for loving her. Cry-Baby is arrested before he can escape.
In court, the judge releases most of the Drapes to their parents and Allison to her grandmother but consigns Pepper's two young children to the Chatterbox Orphanage and sentences the wrongfully blamed Cry-Baby to the Maryland Training School for Boys until his twenty-first birthday, outraging his friends and even Allison's grandmother, who is impressed by Cry-Baby's unwavering devotion to Allison. Cry-Baby tells the judge to let Allison go and assumes full responsibility for everything that happened that night at the Turkey Point. Cry-Baby says that he loves Allison.
When Lenora Frigid (Kim Webb), who has an unrequited crush on Cry-Baby, claims to be pregnant with his child, Allison feels betrayed and tentatively returns to Baldwin and the squares, though her grandmother warns her against prematurely rushing into such a decision.
Meanwhile, in the penitentiary, Cry-Baby gets a teardrop tattoo from fellow drape Dupree (Robert Tyree), explaining, "I've been hurt all my life, but real tears wash away. This one's for Allison, and I want it to last forever!" Later, Cry-Baby escapes through a grate into the prison sewer system, while Milton and Hatchet-Face purloin a helicopter, steer it into the jail yard, and scour the cell block hoping to locate and rescue Cry-Baby. Unsuccessful in doing so, they escape in a garbage collection truck. Meanwhile, Cry-Baby finally escapes the sewers, but unfortunately encounters a room full of prison guards. Elsewhere, Belvedere and Ramona assist Pepper in freeing her children, "Snare-Drum" (Jonathan Benya) and "Susie-Q" (Jessica Raskin), from the Chatterbox Orphanage, before proceeding to release all the other children too.
Eventually, after Allison performs with Baldwin and his friends at the newly constructed Enchanted Forest theme park, the Drapes and her grandmother persuade her to campaign for Cry-Baby's release. Her performance outside the jail persuades the judge (Robert Walsh), who has become romantically interested in Allison's grandmother, to release Cry-Baby.
As the judge announces Cry-Baby's rehabilitation to reporters, Baldwin immediately deflates the mood by insultingly revealing that his grandfather electrocuted Cry-Baby's father. Offended and upset, Cry-Baby challenges him to a chicken race between his jalopy and Baldwin's car, under the condition that they ride on the roofs and allow their closest friends to drive.
With Belvedere driving, several Drapes ride in Cry-Baby's car, while Baldwin's friends climb into his car. As the cars race towards each other, Pepper delivers an infant son in the backseat, and her boyfriend proposes to her by holding up a sign, which she happily accepts. Cry-Baby ultimately emerges victorious, as Baldwin chickens out. Dupree speeds toward him with Allison on the back of his motorcycle before slamming on the brakes, sending her somersaulting through the air into Cry-Baby's arms.
All of the spectators cry a single tear, except for Allison and Cry-Baby, who have finally progressed from the past, enabling them to cry from both eyes.
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