Good SLR Camera around 500-555$?

My wife is into photography lately, so for her birthday I've decided to give her an SLR camera. The thing is, I know absolutely nothing about them. My budget is around 500$. Can I get something decent with that? We don't have many brands here, only like Canon, Nikon and Fuji something. It seems that all she's looking for is good image quality and stuff like that.

Added (1). Would Nikon D3000 + lens 18-55 mm VR do?

Added (2). Looking for a digital camera, I guess.

Are you looking for a film or digital camera?

Edit: My pick would be Canon Rebel XS 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm ($499 from amazon.com)

I'm not going to start by telling you what to by. What I would say you should do is take your wife to a camera shop and look at a few cameras before you buy. Let her hold the cameras to see how it feels in her hands. Let the camera person know what kind of pictures she will be taking ( fast, still, etc.).
Will she be taking pictures for a long period of time. The battery or batteries are always something to think about.

I will say this: Look at these cameras for sure. They are always recommended for beginners.

Nikon D3000 Digital SLR Camera
10.2megapixel CCD sensor, 11-point autofocus system, Fast response, Guide mode, 3-inch TFT, 3 fps continuous shooting allows you to capture fast-moving action at 3 frames per second.

Canon Rebel XS 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera
# DIGIC III image processor provides fast, accurate image processing; Live View Function
# EOS Integrated Cleaning system and Canon-designed Self Cleaning Sensor Unit, plus Dust Delete Data Detection in included software.

After she knows what she wants go online to get the best price. For additional discounts and daily deals go to Every Reward Blog

Go for nikon d3100