In Portland, Oregon, several people have to deal with love and its travails. Harry and Esther, an older couple, are mourning the death of their son, though their love remains strong. Bradley, a friend of Harry's, is stunned when his wife runs away with another woman. He soon finds love again with Diana, though in fact she's torn between him and David, who had been her lover before him. Chloe and Oscar, a younger couple, struggle to make a life together while facing difficulty. Harry bonds with Chloe, who met Oscar in Bradley's coffee shop where the latter works. Their intertwines stories make up the narrative.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Oscar's dad is a verbally abusive jerkass to him, along with his girlfriend Chloe. Later he even threatens her with a knife.
- Alcoholic Parent: Oscar's dad is one, halfhazardly driving home drunk before parking his car halway on the lawn. He gets very aggressive while drunk, verbally abusing both Oscar and Chloe, sometimes also threatening her with violence too.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: Oscar's mother isn't around or mentioned.
- Ambiguously Bi: It isn't clear if Kathryn ever found men attractive, or was just kidding herself before she fell for Jenny.
- Closet Gay: Kathryn is married to a man but comes to find Jenny attractive, keeping it a secret from others initially.
- Closet Key: Jenny appears to the first woman Kathryn has found attractive, as the former notes.
- Domestic Abuse: David, after he argues with Diana, slaps her. She slaps him back and orders him to Get Out!. In spite of this, later they get together again.
- Fingore: Bradley cuts off his fingertip after learning Diana's cheating on him.
- Fortuneteller: Chloe visits a psychic to learn what the future holds with Oscar. She predicts Oscar will have a negative outcome, reading both her palms and Tarot cards too. It appears to come true when he dies suddenly from a heart defect after marrying her.
- God Is Evil: Harry sadly suggests God either doesn't exist or else despises humanity in the wake of Oscar's tragic sudden death after he already lost his son as well. Bradley rejects this idea, and Harry doesn't seem to believe it firmly himself.
- Happily Adopted: Harry and Esther adopt Chloe (who's an adult woman, unusually) after she loses Oscar. She bonded already with them, and is very happy at this.
- Home Porn Movie: Chloe's sister suggests that she and her boyfriend Oscar could make money by them making these. They decide to, and are shown recording themselves while having sex later, later selling it for a porn video company. It doesn't sell much however, as they act too normally.
- Hospital Hottie: Bradley meets Margit, a beautiful doctor who treats him in the hospital after he cut off a fingertip. Before long he begins dating her. They end up getting married.
- Lesbian Jock: Kathryn meets Jenny while the two play baseball together. They start a relationship.
- Lipstick Lesbian: Kathryn and Jenny would fall more into the chapstick category. They have average feminine looks, not especially pronounced, and become a couple. As she apparently never found a woman attractive before Jenny Kathryn might instead be bisexual though.
- Love at First Sight: Kathryn falls for Jenny on first meeting her, which Harry notices at once. Her husband Bradley however is oblivious before she leaves him.
- Love Triangle: Diana is The Mistress for David, a married men. After she meets Bradley, a much nicer man who's newly single, she gets involved with him as well. She doesn't reveal this initially to either. Diana leaves David for Bradley after he proposes, with them marrying before long. Then after they meet again, David leaves his wife and still wants her. Soon she begins cheating on Bradley with him.
- Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Oscar brings Chloe onto a football field after hours where they have sex.
- Misery Builds Character: Chloe believes many drug addicts like Oscar who've quit are better people than they had been before as a result of the experience.
- The Mistress: Diana is the long-term lover of David, a married man. They don't do anything except drink wine and have sex together, which she finds lacking, with her leaving him for Bradley. After that he also leaves his wife and they end up a happy couple as she leaves Bradley.
- Modesty Bedsheet: Chloe covers herself with the bedsheet after having sex with Oscar. This does not mean however that she isn't topless otherwise.
- Ms. Fanservice: Two of the female characters, who are both quite attractive.
- Chloe shows full frontal nudity when caught by Oscar's dad while trying to use the bathroom after sleeping with him. Later, she's shown nude while having sex with him.
- Diana also shows full frontal nudity before she goes to bed with David. She's also shown topless having sex with him.
- Nice Guy:
- Harry is a good, paternal man who offers many people helpful advice.
- Bradley is a kind but naive man. Given this, he easily attracts other people, but at first romantic relationships go poorly for him.
- Chloe's a sweet, caring woman who is always sensitive to others.
- Papa Wolf: Harry, who's come to regard Chloe as a daughter, defends her against the Bat's planned murder of her, warning that he'll kill him if he ever tries this again.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Oscar's dad is only called "the Bat".
- Outliving One's Offspring: Harry and Esther are mourning the death of their son Aaron, who died prior to the film's events, while Harry's taken leave from his job as a professor over it. Later it's revealed Harry partly blames herself over his death by not giving Aaron more guidance.
- Recovered Addict: Oscar relates to Chloe that he's a former drug user in recovery after they meet.
- Secret Relationship: Kathryn, who's married to Bradley, starts seeing Jenny secretly after becoming attracted by her. It doesn't last long however before Kathryn leaves Bradley.
- Self-Harm: Bradley cuts off his fingertip feeling distraught due to his wife's cheating.
- Sex Montage: Scenes of Diana with David, then Chloe and Oscar, are interspersed while both couples have sex.
- Smoking Hot Sex: Diana is shown lighting a cigarette up once after having sex with David.
- Someone to Remember Him By: Just after it seems like Chloe's gotten a happy life with Oscar, marrying him and expecting their baby, the death prediction about him tragically comes true. He dies suddenly of a heart defect no one knew about before while exterting himself playing football, leaving Chloe pregnant. It's softened a bit by Harry and Esther agreeing to adopt her though, so she'll at least have their support.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Kathryn is portrayed with sympathy for seeing Jenny while she's still married to Bradley, as he doesn't really get her and she had seemingly only just realized she's into women.
- Wall Bang Her: Diana is shown having sex with David up against a window before they fall into bed together and continue there.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Kathryn is afraid of dogs at first, which her husband Bradley wants to break by getting them one. She's not happy with this, but mostly as it's a sign to her of Bradley neither knowing nor caring about her actual interests.
