A novelist's longstanding marriage is suddenly upended when she overhears her husband giving his honest reaction to her latest book.

In New York City, a husband and wife butt heads with the granddaughters of the elderly woman who lives in the apartment the couple owns.

A divorced woman who decides to pursue the man she's interested in learns he's her new friend's ex-husband.

Things have been tough lately for Amelia. Her best friend moved out of the apartment, her cat got cancer, and now her best friend Laura is getting married. Amelia copes with things with help from Laura, Andrew, Frank, and a brief romance with Bill--"The Ugly Guy."

The Marks family is a tightly-knit quartet of women. Jane is the affluent matriarch whose 3 daughters seem to have nothing in common except for a peculiar sort of idealism. Setting the tone of vanity and insecurity, Jane is undergoing cosmetic surgery to alter her figure, but serious complications put her health in real danger. Former homecoming queen Michelle, the eldest daughter, has one daughter of her own and an alienated, unsupportive husband. Elizabeth, the middle sister, has an acting career that is beginning to take off, but is timid and insecure, and habitually relieves her trepidation by taking in stray dogs. Only the youngest sister, Annie, an adopted African American 8-year-old, stands a chance of avoiding the family legacy of anxious self-absorption. If only her intelligence and curiosity will see her through what promises to be a confusing adolescence. Each of the women seeks redemption in her own haphazard way.

Four women friends: three are wealthy and married plus there's Olivia, a former teacher who's now a maid. The marriages are in various states of health: Franny and Matt are happy and very rich. Christine and David write screenplays together, are remodeling their house, and argue. Jane is angry all the time and Aaron, who's an attentive husband, strikes everyone as gay. Franny sets up Olivia with a friend of hers, Mike, a personal trainer, and Olivia takes him with her to a couple of housecleaning jobs. A benefit dinner for ALS, an awkward guy named Marty whose place Olivia cleans, and a French maid's outfit figure in the story. Is there more to life than its problems?

Feeling trapped in the stifling, wealthy enclave of Westport, Connecticut, Anders Harris (Ben Mendelsohn) retires from his job in finance and leaves his wife (Edie Falco) in the hopes that it will renew his lust for life. However, he's quickly faced with the startling reality of his choices; he spends his days looking for things to decorate his empty shelves, sleeping with strangers and feeling terribly lost. Missing his ex-wife and on the outs with his troubled 27-year-old son (Thomas Mann), Anders befriends a drug-addicted teen (Charlie Tahan), sending him down a path of reckless and regrettable behavior. His shameful actions cause him to question who he is as a father and, ultimately, who he is as a person.