Trama

After personal and professional setbacks, a woman experiences an alternate reality.

In London, Helen is fired from her position in a PR company. While returning home, she does not catch the train in the subway. But in another possibility of her life, she catches the train in the subway. The story shows two parallel lives of Helen: in one life, she stays with her boyfriend Gerry, and in the other life, she finds that Gerry cheats her with Lydia, and she goes on to fall in love with James.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Arriving at work one morning, Helen discovers that she had been unjustifiably sacked from her PR job. She is returning home when an amazing thing happens: time reverses itself for a few seconds and a second version of herself is created. In one reality Helen catches the tube train, meets James, and arrives home to find her loathsome Lothario lover Gerry cheating on her with his ex-girlfriend Lydia. In the other reality, Helen misses the tube train, gets mugged, goes to hospital, and eventually arrives home to find Gerry alone in the shower. The two realities move forward in tandem: in one Helen leaves Gerry and forms a happy new loving relationship with James; in the other Helen's life becomes more and more wretched as she takes on two jobs to support her worthless, cheating boyfriend as he supposedly writes his novel but in fact carries on a torrid affair with Lydia.—Mark Smith <msmith@osi.co.uk>

Helen Quilley works in PR for a big London company...at least, for the first five minutes of the film. After she is sacked for taking some of the boss' Smirnoff, she heads back down to the Underground to catch the train to take her back to her flat. But as she runs down, her life suddenly splits off. In one version she catches the train; in the second, she misses it. Her whole life changes in that one second, and the rest of the film depicts what happens in each scenario. When she catches the train, she meets a charming man called James and gets home to find her boyfriend Gerry in bed with another woman. When she misses it, she ends up getting mugged before landing a crummy waitress job.—Michael

Helen Quilley (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets fired from her public relations job by her boss Paul (Kevin McNally), for being late and taking 4 bottles of Vodka home, without telling anyone, which meant Paul had nothing to offer the clients who came in later on Friday night. As she leaves the office building, she drops an earring in the lift, and a man picks it up for her. She rushes for her train on the London Underground but misses it as the train doors are closed; but the film then rewinds, and the scene is replayed, except that now she manages to board the train. The film continues, alternating between the two story-lines in which different events ensue (but with occasional intersections of the two).

In the story-line in which she boards the train, Helen sits alongside James (John Hannah) (the man in the lift) on the Underground, and they strike up a conversation (he talks about Beatles and how people don't talk in public transport). She gets home to catch her boyfriend, Gerry (John Lynch), in bed with his American ex-girlfriend, Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Helen leaves him and moves in with her friend Anna (Zara Turner), and, at Anna's suggestion, she changes her hairstyle to make a fresh start. Helen meets James again at a bar, where she was getting drunk and James managed to cheer her up, but also gives her space.

James continues to pop into Helen's life in a serendipitous manner, cheering her up and encouraging her to start her own public relations firm. James seeks Helen out at Anna's house. Anna thinks James is cute and Helen starts dating James. She and James fall in love despite her reservations about beginning another relationship so soon after her ugly breakup with Gerry. James wins her over with his witty charm and they end up sleeping together. Helen uses her PR skills to launch the restaurant of James's closest friend and it turns out to be a huge success. Gerry comes back to Helen and says he wants to be with her. Lydia is still around and now she is pregnant with James's child. Helen finds out that Gerry is still trying to 2 time her and leaves.

Eventually, Helen discovers that she is pregnant. Believing it is James's child, she goes to see him at his office. She is stunned to learn from James's secretary that he is married to Claudia (Nina Young). James finds her on a bridge and explains that he was married but is now separated and planning a divorce, but he and his wife maintain the appearance of a happy marriage for the sake of his sick mother. After she and James declare their love, Helen walks into the road and is hit by a van.

In the story-line in which Helen misses the train, subsequent services are delayed, so she exits the station and hails a taxi. A man tries to snatch her handbag and injures her, so she goes to the hospital. She arrives home after Lydia has left, and she remains oblivious to Gerry's infidelity. Unable to find another PR job, she takes two part-time jobs (as a waiter and a sandwich delivery person) to pay the bills. Gerry continues to juggle the two women in his life.

Lydia, wanting Gerry for herself, resorts to dropping clues to Helen of their affair. She places an order with Helen's food store, making sure that she has to deliver it to her (She later calls Helen back and alleges that her sandwiches gave food poisoning to 4 people at her office. Helen suspects Gerry of infidelity (She follows him, but he sees her and goes to the library instead) but later discovers that she is pregnant. Lydia takes Gerry for a holiday in Dorset, but is fed up with his indecision and reluctance to leave Helen. Lydia leaves Gerry in Dorset and comes back alone.

Helen receives a phone call, allegedly, for a job interview with an international PR firm. She tells Gerry the news but does not manage to tell him of her pregnancy. Lydia calls Gerry to her apartment, apparently to break up. Thinking Helen is at her interview, Gerry goes to see Lydia. While at Lydia's, Gerry answers the doorbell and sees Helen standing at the door, her interview being with Lydia, having arranged both meetings for the same time to expose their affair. Helen is stunned to see Gerry, and Lydia drops the news of her own pregnancy to both. Distraught, Helen runs off and falls on Lydia's staircase.

In both story-lines, Helen is taken to the hospital and loses her baby. In the story-line where she originally boarded the train and met her new-found love, James, she dies in his arms, right after he says he will make her very happy.

Where Helen missed the train, she recovers and tells Gerry to leave for good. Then, as Helen enters the lift to leave the hospital after recovering, she drops an earring. As in their brief encounter at the beginning of the film, James picks up the earring and gives it to her, and then he begins the same cheer-up joke as when they first met in the other story-line. But this time, Helen correctly quotes the punch line, and they turn and look at each other.