One of Plummer's better opportunities came as the lonely object of affection of a homeless man (Robin Williams) in "The Fisher King" (1991). She followed up with turns as the heroine's artsy, slightly disturbed sister in "So I Married an Axe Murderer" and as a basically good-hearted but precariously balanced resident of Stephen King's Castle Rock in the risible "Needful Things" (both 1993). Whereas both of these genre efforts failed with audiences and reviewers alike, Plummer received widespread exposure with the following year's "Pulp Fiction" in another role which utilized her quirky, offbeat sensibility but dispensed with gentility, that of a gun-crazy liquor store thief who aspires to rob coffee shops. Though "Butterfly Kiss" (1995) didn't reach nearly as wide an audience, the actress was even fiercer as the hard-edged, bisexual serial killer who mutilates her gaunt body as penance for her sins.

The stage has generally been more consistently receptive to Plummer. In addition to "Agnes", she received showcase opportunities in Broadway revivals of "A Taste of Honey" (1981), "The Glass Menagerie" (1983, as Laura) and "Pygmalion" (1987, as Eliza Doolittle) and also acted Off-Broadway in Sam Shepard's "A Lie of the Mind" (1985) and "Killer Joe" (1998). The small screen also has offered Plummer's sensitive talent good roles in "The Dollmaker" (1984); the PBS specials, "Story of a Marriage" (1987) and "Gryphon" (1988); and especially "Miss Rose White" (1992), which earned her an Emmy Award for her portrayal of a concentration camp survivor reunited with her sister after many years. She took home a second Emmy for her 1996 appearance as the ill-fated professor Dr. Theresa Given who wanted to change her past life in the "A Stitch in Time" episode of Showtime's "The Outer Limits". Her recurring role as the mentally-challenged Alice on NBC's drama series "L.A. Law" had earned the actress her first Emmy nomination in 1989.

Plummer continued to alternate between TV and films, acting in more than twenty pictures through the 90s. Wonderfully eccentric as a fragile woman anxiously awaiting her mother's imminent visit in the ambitious, low-budget "Drunks" (Showtime, 1996), she joined Michael Ritchie's fairy tale "A Simple Wish" (1997) as the cranky sidekick of Kathleen Turner's menacing witch, though the script abandoned them to the fringes of the story. Already an accomplished equestrian, she had to learn bareback technique as the rambunctious horsewoman among Peter Greenaway's "8 and 1/2 Women" (1999), and Tobe Hooper's nod to "The Twilight Zone", "The Apartment Complex" (Showtime, 1999), and Wim Wenders' "The Million Dollar Hotel" (2001) both cast her among the oddball inhabitants of the titular dwellings. She also lent her distinctive voice to animated projects like "The Road to Dendron" (USA, 1996) and "The Twelve Months" segment of PBS' "Stories from My Childhood" (1997).

In the foreign-made thriller, “7 Days to Live” (2000), Plummer played a mother who moves to the English countryside with her husband (Sean Pertwee) after the tragic death of their son only to begin thinking someone is trying to kill her. After appearing in the pilot episode of the short-lived Lifetime drama, “For the People” (2002-2003), she had a supporting role in the Lindsay Lohan movie-of-the-week, “Get A Clue” (Disney Channel, 2002). She then played the pregnant girlfriend of a creepy conman (Adrian Dunbar) in the action thriller “Triggermen” (2003), followed by a turn as the odd-ball coworker of a woman (Sarah Polley) coping with cancer in the uplifting drama, “My Life Without Me” (2003). Plummer rounded out 2003 with two small and little-seen features, “Mimic Sentinel” and “The Gray in Between.”

After earning good notices for her role as Jon of Arc in Jean Anouilh’s production of “The Lark” at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada, she was seen giving a stunning performance as a schizophrenic victim of sexual assault in a searing episode of “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” (NBC, 1999- ). Plummer earned an Emmy Award in 2005 for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama, the third of her career.