Rita recounts her bad luck with boyfriends, jobs, apartments.

"Experience is lessons you don't want to learn," Rita muses as she reflects on her brief, troubled life in Tom Palazzolo's RITA ON THE ROPES. Rita's narration (played over stark black-and-white footage of Palazzolo's daughter Amy) reveals a sensitive soul who, despite having fallen victim to unscrupulous landlords, dishonest employers and a narcissistic hustler named Randy (whom she still misses a little bit), can still revel in the beauty of abandoned buildings and overgrown lots. - Tom Fritsche