Knygų redaktorė ir leidėja Margarita Teit vieną dieną sulaukia nemalonios staigmenos. Jungtinių Amerikos valstijų migracijos tarnybos budrumo dėka, kaip paaiškėja, nelegaliai Amerikoje gyvenančiai Margaritai gresia deportacija į gimtąją Kanadą. Veikli ir laiko žodžiams nešvaistanti moteris iš karto sugalvoja išeitį ir pareigūnams pareiškia, jog yra susižadėjusi su savo asistentu Endriumi. Tiesą sakant, Margarita su Endriumi visuomet bendravo kaip šuo su kate. Visą laiką engtas asistentas lygiai taip pat greit sumeta naujojo savo vadovės melo naudą ir pažada žaisti pagal jos pasiūlytas taisykles, tačiau su keliomis sąlygomis. Darbe žaibu suorganizuojamos „parodomosios vedybos“ ir „laimingi jaunieji“ išvyksta atostogų į Aliaską – aplankyti Endriaus šeimos. Susitikimas su didmiesčio gyvenimo neišpaikintais ir nesugadintais bei iki skausmo nuoširdžiais vaikino tėvais ir močiute Margaritai tampa rimtu išbandymu.
Du geriausi draugai, gyvenantys kitose šalies pusėse, pakeičia vienas kito gyvenimus, jai nusprendus siekti savo gyvenimo svajonės, o jam pasisiūlius prižiūrėti jos paauglį sūnų.
Tomas Volfas atvyksta į Niujorko „Scribner‘s“ leidyklą paprašyti garsaus ir ne mažiau talentingo redaktoriaus Makso Perkinso išleisti jo knygą. M. Perkinsą visa Amerika jau žino kaip užsispyrusį, darbštų naujų talentų atradėją – jo dėka tapo žinomi Ernesto Hemingvėjaus, Frensio Skoto Ficdžeraldo kūriniai. Vitališki, poetiški Volfo tekstai lyg lavina liejasi iš rašytojo galvos, todėl sutrumpinti virš penkių tūkstančių puslapių knygą yra genialaus redaktoriaus verta užduotis. Puritoniško, kuklaus Perkinso ir atviro, išraiškingo, plepaus vunderkindo Volfo profesinis duetas transformuojasi į priešingų temperamentų kolaboraciją ir neišskiriamą „tėvo ir sūnaus“ draugystę. Tai nustumia į antrą planą jų gyvenimo moteris – Makso žmoną Luizą (akt. Laura Linney), penkias dukras, Tomo širdies draugę ir mecenatę Aliną Bernštain (akt. Nicole Kidman). Misis Bernštain – moteris, dėl Volfo paaukojusi šeimą, jaučia prarandantį meilę...
Overbearing mom, Jackie, travels cross-country to be with her son, Angelo, after he drops out of college to become a surfer. She meets a surf instructor who convinces her to try to accept her son's wishes and allow him to follow his dreams.
In a series of three vignettes, three women in turn struggle to free themselves from the men who restrict their personal freedom.
After interning her insane husband in a remote psychiatric hospital, book editor Helga Pato returns home by train, where she meets a mysterious man who identifies himself as a psychiatrist.
Actress Reese Holden has been offered a small fortune by a book editor if she can secure for publication the love letters that her father, a reclusive novelist, wrote to her mother, who has since passed away. Returning to Michigan, Reese finds that an ex-grad student and a would-be musician have moved in with her father, who cares more about his new friends than he does about his own health and well-being.
When editor Jane Grant receives a plus-one invitation to her cousin's wedding, she finds herself in a predicament. To one-up her old high school rival Natasha Nutley, Jane tells her about her perfect, charming and handsome boyfriend -- except he isn't real. Catching word of her "boyfriend," Jane's intrusive Aunt Ida demands he make an appearance at the wedding. Now, Jane must go on every date she can snag to find a man who fits the bill.
Sparks fly when Anna Penn and Charlie Hudson meet. Unfortunately, they're both engaged to other people. In fact, they're staying at the same New York City hotel in order to work on wrapping up the last details of their nuptials. Over days and evenings of joint wedding planning, the two grow closer -- and start to wonder if they're getting married to the right people after all.
James is still in love with his ex-wife Barbara and has one last chance to win her back. While his friends and parents try to help, they're dealing with their own complicated love lives. But, in a crazy world, love is the only thing that makes sense.
Pablo and Fernando, owners of a children's book publishing company about to go bankrupt, have managed through unorthodox means to contract the country's best-selling author, Adela Mora. The evening of the official signing, Paco asks his friend to let him use his house for a love tryst while Fernando wines and dines Adela. At the same time, Paco's wife, Carmen, will be taking her lover to Rosa's house. From here on the rout begins, as Paco tries to get rid of Silvia, his secretary, and Carmen, her husband. Fernando thinks Rosa is cheating on him with Oscar, who thinks Fernando is gay and having an affair with his partner, while the soldier thinks his girlfriend is a professional...
As Russian writer Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) thinks it is impossible that his novel Doctor Zhivago is published in the Soviet Union, because it supposedly shows a critical view of the October Revolution, he decides to smuggle several copies of the manuscript out of the country. It is first published in 1957 in Italia and the author receives the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958, which has consequences.