The first episode focuses on a rookie, a stolid, fresh-faced young woman who takes the name Venis Envy to join a team called the Putas del Fuego (Whores of Fire). She explains in a voice-over that Roller Derby has always been her dream ("It's what I think about every day"), and she wants her mother to approve of her new pursuit. We watch as she improves her skills and bonds with her teammates. And that mainly involves a lot of drinking - with the occasional stop to toilet-paper another player's house or urinate in a dark alley. These players are all based in Austin, Tex., which is supposed to be Texas's classy town. One can only imagine Rollergirls' Night Out in Fort Worth.

Roller Derby is kitschy, but the players take it and themselves very seriously. The women discuss how much they value their friendships, and they exult in their own physical strength, playfulness and high jinks. But the girl-power thing palls quickly; every clique - water polo players, scrapbook aficionados - thinks its members are really, really fun and special. To outsiders, the Rollergirls on the town mostly look like just another boozy office outing to a Chippendales show.

There are some intriguing snatches of drunken dialogue, however. In a rented limousine on the way to some late-night bars, Lux explains another player's absence by saying, very earnestly, "She had some family issues to deal with, and she also messed up her foot at the Jell-O wrestling."