Master chef Kate Armstrong (Catherine Zeta-Jones) runs her life and her kitchen with intimidating intensity. However, a recipe for disaster may be in the works when she becomes the guardian of her young niece (Abigail Breslin) while crossing forks with the brash sous-chef (Aaron Eckhart) who just joined her staff. Though romance blooms in the face of rivalry, Kate needs to look outside the kitchen to find true happiness.
The film follows 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain and the fortunes of her eccentric family as they struggle to survive in a decaying English castle. Her father is desperate to repeat the spectacular success of his first novel but hasn’t written a word for 12 years; her exquisite sister Rose can only rail against their fate, and their Bohemian stepmother Topaz is a nudist and no help at all. Salvation comes in the form of their American landlord Simon Cotton and his brother Neil. Although initially repelled by Simon, Rose is determined to make him fall in love with her, and succeeds. A wedding is arranged and Cassandra is left on the sidelines as everyone around her is drawn into a maelstrom of interconnected relationships. But events spiral out of control, and before the summer ends she will experience frustrated desire, first love, and a broken heart.
Former music superstar Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) used to pack them in back in the 1980s, but now he is reduced to playing nostalgia tours and county fairs. He scores a chance at a major comeback when reigning pop diva Cora Corman (Haley Bennett) asks him to write a song for her, but he hasn’t written anything in years and cannot compose lyrics anyway. Noticing that Sophie (Drew Barrymore), the plant lady, has a way with words, Alex proposes that he and Sophie make beautiful music together.
Leopold Dilg (Cary Grant), who was wrongfully convicted of arson, manages to escape from prison. While on the lam, he finds the home of Nora Shelley (Jean Arthur), an old friend from school for whom he harbors a secret affection. Nora believes in Dilg’s innocence and lets him pose as her landscaper; meanwhile, Professor Lightcap (Ronald Colman), a legal expert, has just begun renting a room in Nora’s home. Lightcap, like Dilg, also has eyes for Nora, leading to a series of comic misadventures.
