The film features Jess (Herrera), a parking attendant working for the Manila Hotel and has "no girlfriend since birth" who is determined to find his one true love. One day, he was rewarded money, a few days stay at the Mac Arthur suite, hotel's best room along with two other friends. He uses the opportunity to find his romantic match. He falls for Veronica (Azul) and intends to make her fall for him as well by pretending to be rich.
The Hopeful Romantic provides examples of:
- Gold Digger: Veronica, her Establishing Character Moment was asking her a rich middle-age man who is also her boyfriend to buy her everything she wants. Invoked by one of Jess' friends but Jess is too love blind to see this.
- May–December Romance: Veronica with her previous boyfriend with a naive Jess assuming the latter to be the former's uncle due to the obvious age gap.
- Riches to Rags: Jess after spent all his award money to satisfy all of Veronica's expensive wants. Also the backstory of Veronica, who was actually rich in the past, losing all their family's money to a swindler.
- Vow of Celibacy: Jess while desperate for love, is insistent of reserving his virginity for his first love, and he must marry the girl he first did the deed with.
