Rachel Samstat (Meryl Streep) and Mark Forman (Jack Nicholson) meet at a mutual friend's wedding, go to bed, and get married shortly afterwards. She works in publishing in New York City, and he is a successful Washington, D.C. columnist, who is always using his friends and social life as material for his column. All goes well initially with the marriage, despite the fact they endure several months of renovation by incompetent builders on their Washington, D.C. house. A child is born, Mark proves himself a fond father, and another baby is soon on the way. Then Rachel discovers that Mark has been having an affair with one of their circle. Heavily pregnant, she briefly returns to her father's house in New York City. Mark comes after her. He says he loves her and asks her to return to him.
—Tiff Banks