Following her breakup with and imminent divorce from her entertainment lawyer husband David, thirty-something Amy Minsky is forced to move back in with her upper middle-class parents Ruth and Stan in
Westport, Connecticut. Amy, who is depressed and out of work, spends most of her days in the house, directionless and watching
Marx Brothers films. She rejects everybody else's so-called "advice" to turn her life around, but upon the insistence of her mother, she attends a dinner that her family is hosting for friends Gwen and Larry Hammer. Stan, a lawyer, is hoping to take on Larry as a potential client, of which the financial windfall would allow him to
retire and travel around the world with Ruth, which she has long looked forward to. The Hammers bring their son Jeremy, a 19-year-old actor, to the dinner. During the dinner, conversation becomes awkward when Amy is questioned about her career prospects and Jeremy's work on a children's TV show is brought up. She admits she only has a
liberal arts degree and abandoned her master's degree studies in photography to marry David. When Ruth makes an uncomfortable comment about Amy's chubbiness as a kid, Amy excuses herself from the dinner table and goes out to a part of the house that's being renovated to be alone. Jeremy follows her and kisses her, and the two embark on an affair, which they keep hidden due to the age difference and their families' respective business entanglements. Amy hides the affair by claiming to her parents that she is simply going to pick up
antidepressants at the drugstore whenever she goes out at night. Jeremy's therapist mother Gwen mistakenly believes her son is gay, a front that he is happy to keep up. The affair gradually helps restore Amy's sense of self, and also pushes Jeremy to abandon his acting career, which he does not enjoy and only did as a way to make Gwen happy. The relationship experiences tension when Jeremy expresses he has developed real feelings for Amy, and Amy chastises him and his unrealistic expectations for a possible future together. She explains she does not want to jeopardize her father's chance at retirement, which Jeremy interprets as her willingness to simply go along with what everyone else wants. To appease her family, Amy goes on a date with Phil, a fellow recent divorcee, but she finds the date unsatisfying. Later, Amy goes to New York City for a lunch with David to work out their divorce proceedings. Amy has not asked for anything in the divorce settlement because she was blindsided by the split, a result of David's affair with a colleague. The meeting starts off amicably, but when David smugly explains why the marriage failed, Amy states that she has now realized the marriage wasn't as happy as she thought. She leaves the table, asks to be compensated in the settlement, and thanks David for divorcing her because she would not have had the confidence to do it herself. Stan is able to secure a business deal with Larry, and the family throws a party at their home in celebration. The Hammers bring along Jeremy, who refuses to talk to Amy after their argument. In the renovation area, Amy confronts Jeremy to apologize and admits she has genuine feelings for him. The couple reconcile and start to have sex on a couch, but they are embarrassingly caught in the act by their parents. Some time later, Ruth is distraught because Stan ultimately decided not to retire, as he never truly wanted to leave his job. Amy reassures her about the scuttled plans to travel the world. Amy tells Stan that she plans on moving out of the house once she's able to find a place. She goes to Jeremy's house to see him off as he is heading to
Oberlin College. The two agree to stay friendly and Amy confides to Jeremy that she is resuming work on her Master's thesis and will be traveling the world with her mom. The film ends with Amy driving away in a taxi, now in a better place mentally. ==Cast==