Inspired by his longtime love of drawing, and hoping to meet girls, Jerome enrolls at the Strathmore School of Art. His roommates are aspiring filmmaker Vince and closeted-gay fashion major Matthew. Jerome looks for love amongst the female students, but is unsuccessful until he falls for art model Audrey, the daughter of a famous pop artist. Jerome forms a friendship with classmate and perennial loser Bardo, a four-time dropout, who guides him through the college scene and introduces him to Jimmy, a Strathmore graduate who is now a failed artist and belligerent drunk. As he learns how the art world really works, Jerome finds that he must adapt his vision to reality. He slowly loses his idealism at art school and finds himself in competition with a mysterious student named Jonah for both Audrey's affection and artistic recognition. At the same time, a serial killer known as the Strathmore Strangler is on the loose near the campus, confounding the police and inspiring Vince to create a documentary about the murders. In a wild attempt to win a prestigious art competition, Jerome asks for, and gets, Jimmy's paintings, which unbeknownst to him, are portraits of the Strangler's victims. Accidentally dropping a lit cigarette in Jimmy's apartment, he causes a fire that destroys the building, leaving Jimmy and all the other residents dead. The police arrest Jerome as the Strangler (who in fact was Jimmy). Audrey realizes Jerome is her true love and that she was stupid to be interested in Jonah, who turns out to be an undercover police officer with a wife and baby at home. Jerome is sent to prison, but his paintings, particularly one of Audrey, become prized by collectors. Vince scores a huge hit with his documentary about the Strangler called My Roommate: The Murderer. In prison, Jerome continues to paint and sells his works at high prices, not caring that people think he is the killer as it has brought him financial success and recognition. Audrey comes to visit him in prison, and they share a kiss through the protective glass.

In order to cast the world into eternal night, the Lord of Darkness sends the goblin Blix to kill the unicorns in the forest near his castle and bring him their horns. Told by Darkness that the best bait is Innocence, Blix and her colleagues Pox and Blunder follow Princess Lili as she visits her forest-dwelling paramour, Jack O' the Green. Jack teaches Lili to speak to animals, then takes her blindfolded to a forest stream where the unicorns frolic. Despite Jack's fervent warnings not to do so, Lili holds out her hand to touch the stallion. This act allows Blix to shoot him with a poison dart from her blowpipe and the unicorns flee. Jack is angry, but Lili laughs off his concern and issues a challenge by throwing her ring into a pond, declaring she will marry whoever finds it. While Jack dives in after the ring, the goblins track down the poisoned stallion and sever his horn, causing winter to descend. Lili runs off in terror, and Jack is barely able to break through the surface of the now-frozen pond. Lili takes refuge in a peasant cottage, where she sees the goblins test the horn's magic powers and overhears how she was the bait in their slaying of the stallion. She follows the goblins to a rendezvous with Darkness, who tells them the world cannot be cast into eternal night as long as the surviving mare still lives. Blunder unsuccessfully tries using the horn to overthrow Darkness and is sent into the castle's dungeon. Meanwhile, Jack, accompanied by forest elf Honeythorn Gump, will-o'-the-wisp Fairy Oona, and dwarves Brown Tom and Screwball, finds the mare mourning the lifeless stallion. Jack begs forgiveness from the mare, who communicates to him that the horn must be recovered and returned to the stallion by a great hero. Deciding Jack is that hero, the group leaves Brown Tom to guard the unicorns while they retrieve a hidden cache of ancient weapons and armor. In their absence, Lili warns Brown Tom of the goblins coming back to kill the mare. He is then incapacitated by the goblins, who capture both Lili and the mare. Upon returning, Jack and his group make their way to Darkness' castle. On the way, they are attacked by a swamp hag named Meg Mucklebones, but Jack defeats her by flattering her appearance and then decapitating her. At the castle, Jack's group falls into an underground prison cell where they encounter Blunder, who is revealed to be a dwarf gone astray, before he is dragged off by an ogre to be baked into a pie, and Oona, forced to reveal she is a fairy, retrieves the keys to free the others. Darkness realizes that even he is touched by Lili's innocence and releases her to wander the castle. He leaves lavish gifts for her, including an enchanted, dancing dress that hypnotizes her. Revealing himself, he asks her to marry him. She resists, but then agrees on the condition that she will be the one to kill the mare in the upcoming ritual. Overhearing their conversation, Jack and Gump learn Darkness can be destroyed by daylight. After saving Blunder, the group takes the ogres' giant metal platters as makeshift mirrors to reflect sunlight into the sacrificial chamber. As the ritual begins, Lili frees the mare and Darkness strikes her unconscious. Jack fights Darkness, wounding him with the stallion's horn right before the redirected light of the sunset shines into the room, blasting Darkness to the edge of the void. Darkness warns them that because evil lurks in all beings, he will never truly be vanquished. Wavering in doubt, Jack finally severs the hand of Darkness, expelling him into the void. Gump then returns the stallion to life by magically reattaching its horn. With the stallion and mare reunited, winter immediately ends. Jack retrieves Lili's ring from the pond and places it on her finger, waking her from Darkness's spell.

Abby, an American, has moved to Tokyo to be with her boyfriend Ethan, and meets British expatriate Charlie and American hostess Gretchen. Ethan breaks up with her before leaving for Osaka, and a heartbroken Abby visits a nearby ramen shop run by chef Maezumi and his wife Reiko, who do not speak English. Abby does not understand Japanese, but the chef kindly brings her a bowl of ramen. Loving the meal, she hallucinates the shop's maneki-neko beckoning to her, and Maezumi and Reiko refuse to let her pay. The next day, Abby returns to the shop, where she and another patron break into uncontrollable giggles as they eat. Coming back the following day, she insists on helping an injured Reiko serve customers. When the night is through, Maezumi and Reiko find Abby asleep in the back and shoo her out, but she realizes she wants to learn the art of ramen. Rushing back, she begs Maezumi to teach her, and he reluctantly agrees. He treats her harshly, hoping she will quit, but she perseveres and charms the customers as the shop's new waitress. After her constant voicemails for Ethan go unanswered, Abby enjoys a rare night off with Charlie and Gretchen, and strikes up a connection with Toshi Iwamoto. The chaotic Gretchen comes to stay with Abby, who bonds with Toshi over the unexpected directions their lives have taken, and he and Abby enjoy a date at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum. When Maezumi's rival Udagawa brags that a Grand Master chef will soon determine if his son is worthy of carrying on the family ramen tradition, Maezumi drunkenly declares that Abby will be tested as well. Fed up with Maezumi's treatment, Abby questions him about the collection of letters and photos she has seen him cry over. He storms off, and Reiko explains that the mail is from their son Shintaro, a chef in Paris, whom Maezumi has not spoken to in five years since he left for France. Toshi reveals his job is sending him to Shanghai for the next three years, and asks Abby to come with him, but she chooses to stay. Insisting that Abby's cooking has no soul, Maezumi brings her to his mother, who tells her, in Japanese, that she must cook from the heart; Abby confesses that she has been unlucky in love, leaving only pain, and Maezumi's mother suggests putting her tears in her ramen. Abby prepares her broth while crying, and serves it to a table of regular customers, inspiring tearful reactions from everyone who tastes it, including Maezumi. The Grand Master arrives, and after a few sparing bites of the ramen prepared by Udagawa's son, gives him his blessing. At Maezumi's shop, the Master heartily enjoys Abby's unconventional "Goddess Ramen", but tells her that she needs more time and restraint and he cannot give his blessing. Disappointed after almost a year of training, Abby commiserates with Maezumi, who tells her that he felt he would never have a successor after his son chose to study French cuisine instead. Deciding to close his shop after forty-five years, he declares that she is his true successor. Abby soon leaves for America, as the entire neighborhood bids her goodbye, and Maezumi gives her the lantern that hung outside his shop. A year later, Toshi has quit his job to pursue his passion for writing music, and reunites with Abby at her own ramen shop in New York City, "The Ramen Girl", with a framed photo of Maezumi and Reiko happily visiting their son in Paris, and the lantern hanging outside.

Charlie Cartwright, an amorous English tour guide, takes groups of Americans on whirlwind nine-countries-in-18-days sightseeing tours of Europe. Having overslept with his newest conquest, he is late meeting tour #225, finding a resentful group eager to start. Samantha Perkins, one of those tourists, is on vacation to contemplate whether to marry her fiancé, George. In London, Charlie begins a campaign to charm and seduce the gorgeous Samantha, who considers him frivolous and conniving, reluctant to become just another conquest. Despite verbal sparring, they become mutually attracted, and the confirmed bachelor Charlie proposes marriage. Samantha ultimately decides to settle for neither the unexciting George, who turns up unexpectedly, nor the charismatic Charlie, who is unsuitable husband material. Fred and Edna Ferguson take their daughter Shelly on the trip to separate her from an undesirable boyfriend with whom she is getting sexually involved. In Amsterdam, Shelly meets an activist American college student who follows her around different tour locations, where they sneak off on his motorcycle to spend time together sightseeing through counterculture eyes. Also in Amsterdam, Irma Blakely disappears on a Japanese tour bus she mistakenly boards when separated from her group. Multiple attempts must be made before the two tours overlap to restore her to her husband, Harve. Although Harve pines for Irma during the whole trip and must be coaxed into joining the group at a nightclub, when Irma finally reappears in Rome, she finds him onstage dancing with burlesque dancers and mistakenly believes he has been partying in her absence. Irma declares they will go to Japan next year, since she has made many friends on her improvised tour. In Belgium, Jack Harmon revisits the World War II site where he fought in Bastogne. As he tells tall tales to a fellow tourist, Freda Gooding, of a German retreat, he literally crosses path with a German veteran who is acting out a contradictory tale of Allied retreat to his wife. In Rome, eager to see Gina, a woman he met during the war, again, Jack's fantasies are shattered when he finds that, while still attractive, she is now a grandmother with a family. In consolation, he turns to Freda Gooding, a widow, and begins to get to know her. Often getting slapped, Bert Greenfield sneaks pictures of breasts, thighs, and other intimate angles of voluptuous women, pretending that he is "scoring" with them, and sending made-up stories to his buddies. Desperate, he pays a pretty girl to pose with him in an embrace; she returns his money out of pity and kisses his cheek before departing. In Italy, John Marino takes time from the tour to meet his relatives, who receive him warmly but alarm him when they want to fix him up with Francesca, a plump, plain cousin, who he jumps through a bathroom window into a canal to avoid. The next day he is handed a pile of messages from “a cousin” and spends the rest of his time avoiding her. As he is leaving Venice, John finds that he has been dodging a different―beautiful―cousin he laments not getting to know; Bert laments not getting her photo for his collection. Throughout the tour, Fred complains to Edna that the tour is an ordeal and he is eager to get home. His one objective is to have a custom pair of Italian shoes made, for which he goes through an arduous process to make the non-English-speaking shoemaker understand his specifications. After Fred leaves, the shoemaker selects a pair of ready-made shoes from a catalogue, completely mistaking the specifications, that he will mail to the U.S. to fulfill the "special order". Despite having complained throughout the whole tour, Fred declares they will go on a tour of Scandinavia next year. Throughout the tour, kleptomaniac Harry Dix steals "souvenirs" such as towels, ashtrays, Bibles, bells, lifesavers, telephones, and paintings from each location, which he stows into a commodious suitcase. At the airport on departure, his suitcase is so heavy that it collapses, spilling all his pilfered objects, which he leaves behind. Starting tour #226, Charlie gives an introductory speech evoking unexpected adventure, reflecting his new romantic, less cynical, outlook, as the new group of tourists rotate seats and get to know each other.

Donovan Donaly, a TV soap opera producer, walks in on his wife Bonnie being intimate with an ex-boyfriend. He files for divorce, and she hires Miles Massey, a top divorce attorney and the inventor of the "Massey pre-nup", a completely foolproof prenuptial agreement. Miles wins a large property settlement against Donaly, leaving him broke. Meanwhile, private investigator Gus Petch tails the wealthy and married Rex Rexroth on a drunken night out with a blonde. When they stop at a motel, he catches their tryst on video. Gus takes the video to Rex's wife, Marylin Rexroth, a marriage-for-money predator. Marylin files for divorce, demanding a large property settlement. Unable to afford a divorce settlement, Rex hires Miles to represent him. Marylin's friend, serial divorcée Sarah Sorkin, warns her that Miles will be a dangerous opponent. Marylin and her lawyer, Freddy Bender, fail to reach an agreement with Miles and Rex. The bored Miles asks the fascinating Marylin to dinner, where they flirt. While they are out, Gus breaks into her house and copies her address book for Miles, who has his assistant search among the names for Marylin's accomplice in arranging predatory marriages. In court, Marylin feigns an emotional breakdown over Rex's infidelity, professing that she loved Rex unconditionally at first sight. Miles then calls "Puffy" Krauss von Espy, a Swiss hotel concierge. Puffy testifies that Marylin asked him to find her a marriage target who was very rich, foolish, and a philanderer whom she could easily divorce, and that he pointed her to Rex. The divorce is granted, but she gets nothing. Seeking revenge against Miles, Marylin finds the now-penniless Donaly living on the street, still clutching his Emmy statuette, and offers him a chance to reclaim his lost glory. Soon after, she shows up at Miles' office with her new fiancé, oil millionaire Howard D. Doyle. Marylin insists on the Massey prenup—which will make it absolutely impossible for her to claim any of her fiancée's assets in the event of a divorce—over both Howard and Miles's objections. However, Howard destroys it during the wedding, as a demonstration of love. Six months later, Miles goes to Las Vegas, to give the keynote address at a convention for divorce attorneys. He encounters Marylin, who has divorced Howard and presumably collected a sizable share of the Doyle Oil fortune. However, she admits that she is disenchanted with her wealthy but lonely life. Miles marries Marylin on the spur of the moment, and signs the Massey prenup to prove that he has no interest in her fortune, but she tears it up. The next morning, Miles tells the convention that love is the most important thing, and that he is giving up divorce for pro bono work. Shortly afterwards, Miles discovers that "Howard D. Doyle" is just an actor from one of Donaly's soap operas; Marylin tricked him, leaving his considerable wealth at risk. Desperate to save the firm's reputation, Miles' boss, Herb Myerson, suggests hiring hitman "Wheezy Joe" to kill Marylin. Miles then learns that Marylin's ex-husband Rex has died without changing his will, leaving her his entire fortune. Since she is now the wealthier of the two parties, his assets are no longer at risk. Repentant, Miles rushes to save Marylin from Joe, but she has already offered to pay him double to kill him instead. In the confusion of the ensuing struggle, Joe mistakes his gun for his asthma inhaler and accidentally kills himself. Later, Miles, Marylin, and their lawyers meet to negotiate a divorce. Miles pleads for a second chance and retroactively signs a Massey prenup. Realizing her own feelings for him, she tears it up, and they kiss. Marylin reveals that to get Donaly's help for supplying Howard, she gave him an idea for a hit TV show, restoring his fortunes in the process: America's Funniest Divorce Videos, with Gus as the host.

In December 1999, insurance investigator Virginia "Gin" Baker assesses the theft of a valuable Rembrandt painting from a New York City penthouse. Gin informs her boss, Hector Cruz, that she suspects the involvement of world-class international thief Robert "Mac" MacDougal, an elderly man who steals for the challenge. Cruz assigns her to investigate. In London, Mac quickly realizes that Gin is following him and confronts her. She claims to be a thief in need of Mac's help to steal a valuable Chinese mask from the highly-secure Bedford Palace. After Gin passes his test by obtaining the Palace floorplans, Mac brings her to his isolated Scottish castle to prepare. There, Gin confesses to stealing the Rembrandt, prompting Mac to reveal that he, in turn, intercepted it before it reached her client. The pair train for the heist, clashing over Mac's over-preparedness and resisting their mutual attraction. Later, unaware that Mac is listening in, Gin contacts Cruz to explain her plan to entrap Mac. That night, Mac and Gin break into Bedford Palace and steal the mask. Before they can escape, however, Mac threatens to drown Gin if she does not admit she is trying to arrest him. Gin claims that her insurance job is a cover identity, and she has no intention of arresting him as she needs him for another heist. In Kuala Lumpur, Gin reveals her plan to infiltrate the Malaysian branch of the International Clearance Bank (ICB) housed in the Petronas Towers. At midnight on New Year's Eve, the bank's global computer system will briefly shut down for thirty seconds to verify its integrity due to the millennium bug. During this window, Gin and Mac plan to use her custom software to siphon small amounts from thousands of corporate transactions into her account. Concerned for Gin's safety, Mac attempts to cancel the heist, but his contact, Aaron Thibadeaux, coerces him to proceed and provides Cruz with photos of Mac and Gin in an intimate moment. Cruz confronts Gin for answers, but she convinces him that it is part of her strategy to incriminate Mac. As the Millennium celebrations commence on New Year's Eve, Cruz oversees increased security forces in the Petronas Towers. Gin and Mac hack the surveillance system to conceal their presence and break into the vault housing the ICB system. At the stroke of midnight, Gin's software successfully transfers just over $8 billion to her account, but alarms are triggered when she disconnects her laptop. She and Mac evade the pursuing forces and climb to the interlinked second tower across cables of suspended lights, but when the cable snaps, Gin loses her miniature parachute. The pair reach a large ventilation shaft and Mac forces a tearful Gin to escape with his parachute while he remains behind, promising to meet her at Pudu train station. The following morning, Mac meets Gin at the station, accompanied by Thibadeaux, who reveals himself as a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent. Mac confesses that he was arrested two years earlier and given a deal to avoid jail by entrapping Gin, who has long been under FBI suspicion. As a train arrives at the station, Mac reveals that he has fallen in love with Gin, and that he only surrendered $7 billion to the FBI, before slipping her a gun and documents to escape the country. Gin feigns holding Mac at gunpoint and escapes on the train, pursued by the FBI. As Mac sits at the station alone, Gin reappears, having jumped trains mid-station. Happily reunited, Gin proposes their next heist.

In 1964, eight-year-old Allen Bauer and his family are taking a boat tour at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Allen is fascinated by something below the surface and jumps overboard, even though he cannot swim. In the ocean, he encounters a young girl, and when they hold hands, he inexplicably finds himself able to breathe underwater. However, Allen is rescued and pulled back to the surface, and the two are separated. Since no one else saw the girl, Allen comes to believe the encounter was a near-death hallucination. After the boat pulls away, the young girl is revealed to be a mermaid. Twenty years later, Allen is now co-owner of a wholesale fruit and vegetable business in New York City with his womanizing older brother, Freddie. Throughout the years, Allen's relationships have failed as he subconsciously seeks the connection he shared with the mermaid. Depressed after his latest breakup, Allen returns to Cape Cod, where he encounters eccentric scientist Walter Kornbluth on a diving expedition. When his motorboat restarts, Allen falls into the sea and is knocked unconscious; his wallet drops onto the coral below. He later wakes up on a beach, with a headache from the accident, in the presence of a beautiful, naked young woman who is unable to talk. After kissing Allen, the woman dives into the sea, where she transforms into a mermaid. While swimming underwater, she is sighted by Kornbluth. The mermaid finds Allen's wallet and uses a sunken ship's charts to locate New York. She comes ashore naked at the Statue of Liberty and is arrested for indecent exposure. Using information from the wallet, the police contact Allen, and she is released into his care. The mermaid learns how to speak English from watching television and is eager to explore the city. Unable to say her real name in human language, she selects "Madison" from a Madison Avenue sign. She tells Allen that she will be in New York for "six fun-filled days, and the moon is full", unable to return home if she stays any longer. Despite Madison's occasionally outlandish behavior, she and Allen fall in love. He proposes to her, but she declines and runs away. After some contemplation, Madison returns to Allen and agrees to marry him, with the added promise of telling him the truth about herself after an upcoming dignitary dinner to welcome the President. Meanwhile, Kornbluth, realizing that Madison is the mermaid he encountered, pursues the couple, trying to expose her by splashing her with water. After his first attempts are unsuccessful, Kornbluth ultimately infiltrates the dignitary dinner, soaking Madison with a hose and unmasking her identity. Madison is seized by government agents and taken to a secret lab, headed by Kornbluth's cold-hearted rival, Dr. Ross, for examination. As she withers away in captivity, Kornbluth learns that the scientists are planning to dissect her, causing him to regret his actions. Allen is shocked by Madison's secret and rejects her, but when he voices his disillusionment to his brother, Freddie berates him, reminding him how happy he was with her. Realizing that he still loves Madison, Allen confronts the guilt-ridden Kornbluth, who, having been rejected by his colleagues despite proving the existence of mermaids, agrees to help rescue her. Kornbluth, accompanied by Allen and Freddie impersonating Swedish scientists, enters the lab and smuggles Madison outside. Freddie stays behind to be arrested in Allen's place, while Kornbluth unsuccessfully tries to stop military troops from catching the couple. As they make it to New York Harbor, Madison tells Allen that he can survive underwater as long as he is with her, prompting Allen to realize that she was the girl he had met underwater as a child. She warns him that if he comes to live in the sea, he will never be able to return to land. Madison dives into the water as the troops close in on them. When they attempt to arrest Allen, he jumps in after her but starts to drown. She kisses him, gifting him the ability to swim and breathe underwater. Frogmen try to recapture them, but the couple fight them off and escape. Allen discards his jacket as the couple happily swims toward what appears to be an underwater kingdom.

The story begins in 1930s Germany, against the backdrop of the Third Reich's ascendancy. John Halder is a German university professor who lives with his overly anxious wife, 2 children and a mother with senile dementia. He writes a paper called, "The Case for Mercy Death on the Grounds of Humanity", to explore his personal predicament and the justification of euthanasia. His paper catches the attention of the Nazi party, who send a high-ranking Nazi officer, Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler, to help them push their agenda and offer him a job. After publishing the paper his career and social status advance, but he does not realise the consequences his work will have. Halder is set on a path that will lead to him divorcing his wife, marrying a young Nazi sympathiser, Anne, and gaining an honorary SS commission. Halder's best friend, a Jewish psychologist called Maurice who fought alongside him in World War I, voices his concerns about Halder's choices. As it becomes more dangerous for Jews in Germany, Maurice approaches Halder to gain exit papers, but Halder is unwilling to risk his own standing and status to help save his best friend. By the time he is willing to do so, it is too late as Maurice has been turned into the SS by his wife. Halder dons an SS uniform and visits a concentration camp where he is confronted by the reality that his choices and actions helped put into motion.

Doug Kinney works in construction in Los Angeles, and his job constantly gets in the way of his family. Working on a new wing of a scientific facility, Doug meets Dr. Leeds, a scientist who developed a method for cloning humans. He is introduced to Dr. Leeds' clone as proof. Sympathetic to Doug's troubles, Dr. Leeds clones him, so the clone can take over for Doug at work, while the original tries to spend time with his family. "Two", a clone who calls himself "Lance", has all of Doug's memories and knowledge, but is also an exaggeration of Doug's masculine side. Doug tries to keep his clone a secret. While he and his wife Laura are at a restaurant for dinner, he sees Two on his own date. Doug begins to worry about his clone being revealed. Despite the complications of having a clone, Lance is extremely busy at work, so Doug has another made to help out at home. "Three", who calls himself "Rico", is an exaggeration of Doug's feminine side. He is sensitive and thoughtful and loves to cook and take care of the house, much to Lance's chagrin. Lance and Rico attempt to make another clone, "Four", who is later named Lenny. Since he is a clone-of-a-clone (and a copy of a copy may not be as 'sharp' as the original), his intelligence is lower than that of his predecessors, yet Lenny represents an exaggeration of Doug's immature side, and he refers to Doug as "Steve". Annoyed, Doug decrees that no more clones be created. Doug decides to take some time off, going on a sailing trip. He does not want Laura to know, so he has his clones step in for him while he is away. Although he instructs them that Laura is off limits, while he is gone each of the clones run into Laura. Despite their best efforts to follow instructions, she persists and eventually has sex with all three of them, thinking they are Doug. The next day, Lance has a cold and cannot go to work, so he sends Rico. During an inspection on site, Rico's ignorance about the current construction site annoys the inspector, which leads to Doug losing his job. Laura becomes increasingly upset with her husband's erratic behavior and how he has no memories of discussions she unwittingly had with another clone. Thinking Doug is ignoring her, she reveals her feelings to Lenny, mentioning how Doug has never kept his promise to fix up the house. When she asks him what he wants, an inattentive Lenny replies, "I want pizza". Upset, she takes the children and moves back to her parents' home. After finding out everything that has happened while he was away, Doug tries to determine how to get Laura back. Lenny tells him that Laura said he never fixed the house. With the help of the clones, Doug remodels their home and wins back Laura's love. He also tells her he is planning to start his own contracting business. Realizing Doug can take care of himself now, the clones move away. As they are driving away, Laura sees them in the car next to her. Believing that she is hallucinating, Laura tells her children that you can tell you really love someone when everyone you see reminds you of them. The clones write to Doug that they have set up a successful pizzeria called "Three Guys from Nowhere" in Miami, Florida, and masquerade as triplets. Lance becomes the businessman of the shop and serves customers, enjoying this opportunity to meet women. Rico is the head chef and is "cooking up a storm and having a ball", and Lenny is both the delivery boy and a paperboy. But because of his limited intellect, he confuses the two jobs, and the movie ends with him delivering a pizza by throwing it, newspaper-style.

Actress Samantha Taylor throws a surprise 42nd birthday party for her boyfriend, the wealthy and famous composer George Webber. During it, George finds that he is coping badly with his age. From his car, George glimpses a bride on her way to be married and is instantly obsessed with her beauty. Following her to the church, he crashes into a police cruiser, is stung by a bee and nearly disrupts the wedding ceremony. Later that night, Sam and George argue over his treatment of women and his habit of spying on the intimate acts of a neighbor with his consent. George later visits the minister who performed the wedding and learns that the woman is Jenny Miles, daughter of a prominent Beverly Hills dentist. The following day, while spying on his neighbor, George hits himself with the telescope and falls down an embankment, causing him to miss Sam's phone call. Still obsessed with Jenny, he schedules a dental appointment with her father and learns that Jenny and her husband David have gone to Mexico for their honeymoon. The effects of a large amount of treatment accompanied by a heavy dose of novocaine, aggravated by immediate heavy drinking, leave George completely incoherent. Sam finally reaches him on the phone, but mistakes him for an intruder and calls the police, who hold George at gunpoint while trying to understand his gibberish. George visits his neighbor's house to take part in an ongoing orgy, but Sam spots him through his telescope, widening the rift between them. George impulsively boards a plane to follow the newlyweds to their exclusive resort in Mexico. In the bar, George encounters old acquaintance Mary Lewis, who lacks self-confidence. When they attempt a fling, Mary interprets George's inadequacy in bed as confirmation of her own insecurities. At the beach, George sees Jenny in a swimsuit and is awestruck again by her beauty. Noticing that her husband has fallen asleep on a surfboard, George rents a catamaran and rescues David, making him a hero. Sam sees George on a TV newscast and tries to contact him unsuccessfully. David is hospitalized with sunburn, allowing Jenny and George to spend time alone together. Jenny smokes marijuana and seduces George while playing Ravel 's " Boléro," but he is horrified when Jenny takes a call from David and casually informs him of George's presence. George is even more confused with David's complete lack of concern. Jenny explains that she is in an open marriage and married David only because of pressure from her conservative father. George leaves after realizing that Jenny sees their tryst as nothing more than a casual fling. After flying home, George reconciles with Sam by performing an apologetic new song and demonstrating greater maturity. He suggests getting married, but they agree that they should first work on arguing less and having sex more. George takes an idea from Jenny when he starts "Boléro" on his phonograph and has sex with Sam in full view of the neighbor's telescope. However, the neighbor has already stopped watching out of frustration that he provides erotic entertainment for George and gets nothing in return.

In 1986, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wurtzel is a 19-year-old accepted into Harvard with a scholarship in journalism. She has been raised by her divorced mother since she was two years old and has not seen her father at all in the last four years. Despite his lack of interest and involvement, Lizzie still misses her father, a contributing factor to her depression. Through a series of flashbacks, it is clear that there was a total communication breakdown between Lizzie's parents, which is soon reflected in Lizzie's own relationship with her mother, Lynne. Soon after arriving at Harvard, Lizzie decides to lose her virginity to an older student, Noah. Lizzie proceeds to alienate Noah by throwing a loss-of-virginity party immediately afterwards with the help of her roommate Ruby. Although she and Lizzie begin as best friends, Ruby soon becomes another casualty of Lizzie's instability. Although Lizzie's article for the local music column in The Harvard Crimson earns her an award from Rolling Stone early into the semester, she soon finds herself unable to write, stuck in a vicious cycle with substance abuse. Lizzie's promising literary career is at risk, as is her mental and physical health. Lynne sends her to expensive psychiatric sessions with Dr. Sterling towards which her father, pleading poverty, implacably refuses to contribute anything. She begins a relationship with another student, Rafe, but struggles with trust issues and fears of abandonment. During the holiday break, she visits his home in Texas. Upon discovering that his sister is severely autistic, Lizzie accuses Rafe of being "a creepy voyeur" who gets off on witnessing the pain of others. Rafe breaks up with her. Dr. Sterling prescribes Lizzie medication to cope with her spiraling depression following her breakup. Meanwhile, Lynne is hospitalized after a violent mugging. Lizzie helps take care of her, and a relationship of honesty, accountability, and mutual support develops between them. After a long period of treatment under medication and a suicidal gesture, Lizzie stabilizes and begins to adjust to her life.

In San Francisco, sous-chef Tom, and PhD graduate Violet, are happily engaged. Their wedding plans are interrupted when Tom's best friend Alex gets Violet's sister Suzie pregnant at Tom and Violet's engagement party, and Alex and Suzie quickly marry. When Violet is accepted into the University of Michigan 's two-year post-doctorate psychology program, Tom agrees to move with her and delay their wedding. Later, he is disheartened to learn his boss planned to make him head chef. Unable to find a suitable chef's position in Michigan, Tom is resigned to working at Zingerman's deli and takes up hunting with Bill, a fellow university faculty spouse. Violet settles into her new job under professor Winton Childs, working with Doug, Ming, and Vaneetha. A prank results in Violet being chosen to lead the team's research project, studying people who choose to eat stale donuts rather than wait for fresh ones to arrive. Tom and Violet's nuptials are further delayed when Winton receives funding from the National Institutes of Health with Violet's help and extends her program. Tom is upset by the news, and he and Violet fight over his unhappiness with their new life. As years pass, Tom becomes disillusioned and obsessed with hunting. Alex, Suzie, and their daughter Vanessa visit, and reveal Suzie is pregnant again. Tom responds that he no longer wants to have a child, surprising Violet, who offers to look after Vanessa with him, but the night turns into a disaster after Vanessa shoots Violet with Tom's crossbow. Tom's downward spiral becomes evident when Violet sees him eat a stale donut. At a bar with colleagues, a drunken Violet and Winton kiss, which Violet instantly regrets. She tells Tom that she wants to plan their wedding immediately, and he happily agrees. When Violet confesses to kissing Winton, Tom loses faith in their relationship, which reaches a climax when Winton comes to their rehearsal dinner to apologize. Tom chases Winton away, then leaves to get drunk alone. He runs into Margaret, an amorous co-worker, but opts not to have sex with her, and wakes up half-naked in the snow with a frostbitten toe, which is amputated. Violet visits Tom at the hospital, and they call off their engagement once they arrive home. Violet starts a relationship with Winton but often reminisces about Tom. He wishes her a happy birthday via email, including a video of Ming's ridiculous experiment on his friend Tarquin. Violet calls Tom, who has returned to San Francisco, working as a sous-chef under Alex and dating the hostess, Audrey. Their friendly-but-awkward conversation takes a turn as they argue over Violet's stale donuts experiment as a metaphor for their relationship, and both end the call upset. Realizing Tom's unhappiness, Alex fires him out of love, telling him that he is the better chef and should open his own establishment. So, Tom launches a popular taco truck. Violet receives an assistant professorship but learns she was hired because she is dating Winton, and breaks up with him. After lunch with his parents, Tom decides to win Violet back and breaks up with Audrey. He surprises Violet at her grandmother's funeral in England, and they agree to spend the remainder of the summer together in San Francisco, rekindling their relationship while sharing an apartment and working in the taco truck. Driving Violet to the airport, Tom offers to take his truck to Michigan and continue their relationship. Violet proposes to Tom at the side of the road, just as he did five years before, and Tom produces the ring he originally gave her, explaining that he was planning to re-propose at the airport. They head to Alamo Square, where Violet has organized their family and friends for an impromptu wedding. Tom chooses between Violet's various options for the officiant, clothing, and music, and they finally marry. Tom and Violet share their first kiss as a married couple, and the film flashes back to their first kiss when they first met at a New Year's Eve party. Alex and Suzie sing " Cucurrucucú paloma " on a carriage ride with the newlyweds.