Plot

A film adaptation of Steve Martin's novel about a complex love triangle between a bored salesgirl, a wealthy businessman and an aimless young man.

Twenty-something native Vermonter Mirabelle Buttersfield, having recently graduated from college, is finding her new life in Los Angeles not quite what she was expecting or hoping. An aspiring artist, she is barely eking out a living working as a clerk at the women's evening gloves counter at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills and thus she can barely make the payments on her massive student loans. She treats her job with a certain distance, often daydreaming as she watches the life of the rich as they shop at the store. She has made no friends, including from among her Saks colleagues, and thus lives a solitary existence, which does not assist in her dealing with her chronic clinical depression. So it is with some surprise that two men with a romantic interest in her enter her life almost simultaneously. The first is poor slacker Jeremy, who works as an amplifier salesman/font designer. Mirabelle continues dating Jeremy as only a relief to her solitary life, as Jeremy doesn't seem to understand how to treat her in the way she wants. Shortly after meeting Jeremy, she meets the second, wealthy fifty-something Ray Porter, who is the antithesis of Jeremy in almost every respect, including the fact that Ray is unwilling or unable to commit to Mirabelle, about which he is up front to her. To Mirabelle, that lack of commitment from Ray seems to be in name only, and as such she increasingly sees Ray as her boyfriend. Mirabelle has to decide if a long term future is either in the cards with Jeremy or Ray, which is made all the more complicated by an action by Jeremy to an off the cuff comment that she makes to him.—Huggo

The story follows Mirabelle, a disenchanted salesgirl and aspiring artist who sells gloves and accessories at a department store. She has two men in her life: wealthy divorcée Ray Porter and struggling musician Jeremy. Mirabelle falls in love with the glamorous Ray, and her life takes a magical turn, but eventually she realizes that she must empower herself and make a choice between them.—Anonymous

In her 20s, Mirabelle leaves taciturn parents in Vermont to live in L.A. She sells gloves at Saks, lives alone in a flat, and sporadically pursues her art (photography and pencil). She's so lonely she'll sleep with Jeremy, a clueless, penniless graphic artist and constant talker she meets at a laundromat. About the time Jeremy sets off on a months-long road trip as a rock band's groupie, Mirabelle meets Ray Porter, pushing 60, wealthy, charming, living in L.A. and Seattle. He thinks he's made it clear it's just an affair; she hears it's more. She's on cloud nine. Meanwhile, on the road trip, Jeremy listens to self-help tapes on relating to women. Can a shopgirl find true romance?—<jhailey@hotmail.com>

In 2003, Mirabelle Buttersfield (Claire Danes) is an aspiring artist from Vermont who works at the evening gloves counter at Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills. Her quiet, orderly existence filled with both the mundane - futon furniture and an aging pickup truck - and the serious - a large student loan ($39,452) and a supply of antidepressants - is disrupted by the sudden appearance of two disparate men. Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman) is an immature, socially inept, penniless graphic designer for an amplifier manufacturer and an aspiring typographer who meets Mirabelle in a laundromat. Mirabelle, aching for meaningful contact, gives Jeremy a chance but it quickly fizzles after a half-heart date (they sit outside of a theatre and stare at it, without going in, as the tickets are $10 each), followed by a woefully underwhelming sexual encounter (he brought a mint instead of a condom and then borrowed one from Mirabelle's neighbor. They didn't have sex as it was interrupted by her cat).

Ray Porter (Steve Martin) is an older, suave, wealthy, divorced logician who charms Mirabelle over several dates (he buys a pair of gloves from her counter and then gifts it to her, while asking for a dinner), one of which ends at his house. Ray is over 50, divorced and has 2 houses, in LA and in Seattle. Mirabelle offers herself to him, and the morning after they have sex, Ray tells her that he does not intend for their relationship to be serious due to his constant travel between L.A. and Seattle. Each has a different understanding of this talk: Ray tells his psychiatrist that Mirabelle knows he will see other people & that their relationship has no future (he essentially said that he would like to sleep with her when he is in town), and Mirabelle tells her acquaintances that Ray wants to see her more.

Mirabelle and Ray embark on a lengthy affair, while Jeremy attempts to have one last liaison with Mirabelle before leaving as a roadie for the band Hot Tears, but she spurns him due to her relationship with Ray. While on tour, the band's lead singer introduces Jeremy to the world of self-improvement and how to better relate to the opposite sex. Mirabelle becomes increasingly devoted to Ray, who showers her with expensive gifts, such as paying off her student loans, instead of emotional affection. When Mirabelle's depression hits hard, as she has ceased taking her antidepressants because Ray makes her happy, he takes her to the doctor and cares for her, further deepening her reliance on him. Ray invites Mirabelle on a trip to New York and has her fitted in the dress shop at Armani.

During a business trip, Ray has dinner with an old girlfriend Christie Richards (Rebecca Pidgeon) who propositions him, and he accepts, confessing the liaison to Mirabelle. Devastated, Mirabelle ends the relationship, abandons her trip to New York, and visits Vermont instead. While she basks in the warmth and familiarity of home (with parents Dan Buttersfield (Sam Bottoms) & Charlotte Buttersfield (Frances Conroy)), Ray calls to apologize for hurting her and asks her to meet him in New York. There, he takes her to a large party where she is the youngest guest and feels alone and out of place. At the hotel room, Ray wants to be intimate, but Mirabelle rejects him.

Returning to California, Mirabelle encounters Jeremy on the way to an art show, and they arrive together. Her co-worker Lisa (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras), suspicious of Mirabelle's new clothes, mistakes Jeremy for Ray (She follows Mirabelle to her date, and assumes that she is meeting Ray), and Jeremy's self-improvement is obvious to everyone but Mirabelle. Lisa seduces Jeremy as they go back to her place and have sex. Mirabelle goes home with Ray. In the morning, Ray devastates Mirabelle by announcing his plans to find a bigger house in case he meets someone and decides to have kids. Jeremy calls Lisa (and that's when Lisa realizes that she had sex with Jeremy and not Ray), but learns she has no interest in anything but Ray Porter and his money.

Mirabelle permanently ends her relationship with Ray and, after a brief period of mourning, quits her job at Saks to become a receptionist in an art gallery. Jeremy pursues her again, properly, and they fall in love. Mirabelle is invited to show her work at the gallery, and Ray attends the opening with his new girlfriend, a gynecologist. Jeremy is clearly proud of Mirabelle, and their relationship is in stark contrast to Ray and Mirabelle, whose conversation is full of recognition yet noticeably strained. Ray apologizes for how deeply he hurt her and admits that he did love her, and Mirabelle is visibly touched by his admission, and runs lovingly into Jeremy's arms. Watching the healthy, openly loving couple, Ray remarks that he feels a loss even though he had kept Mirabelle "at arm's length" to avoid the pain of their inevitable breakup.