Plot

A lonely waitress meets a handsome, quirky jewelry store clerk who had a brain aneurysm and thus has short-term memory loss.

A lonely, down-on-her-luck waitress meets a handsome, quirky jewelry store clerk and thinks that maybe, finally, she's met Mr. Right. The more Molly (Alexis Bledel) gets to know Gus (Zachary Levi), the more she's intrigued by him. But she's also mystified. Gus is absent-minded, preoccupied. Is he hiding something? The short answer is: yes. He's reluctant to share with her that since suffering a brain aneurysm, he's totally lost his short-term memory. Every day is a brand new day, his life starts anew. Every day he sees Molly he struggles to remember who she is and what she represents. Every day, he has to fall in love with her all over again.—Hallmark Hall of Fame

The story follows the characters of Molly (Bledel), a struggling waitress, and Gus (Levi), a jewelry store employee. Gus and Molly meet through a chance encounter when Gus is at Molly's diner waiting for his best friend. Molly sees Gus reciting notes into his pen recorder and when he goes to take a phone call she leaves a message on it for him. Soon after, Molly and Gus begin to date. Molly does not yet realize it, but Gus is unable to make new memories due to having had a brain aneurysm years before. As a result, he forgets the day's events every time he goes to sleep. Molly soon finds out that he has been recording all of their conversations on his pen.

Every morning at 6, Gus wakes up to real New Orleans jazz on his clock-radio, and a pair of enthusiastic morning hosts (what they do on the radio station on weekends is not shown). And he sees a note saying he lives in New Orleans, and a file folder with the large message telling him to read it every morning.

Then Gus goes out and jogs, and the fiddle player knows whether he is on time or late. How Gus knows where to jog is never explained.

Gus works in the jewelry store owned by Sam and his wife, who lived next door to him when he was younger. He can remember everything about his life before that terrible day in 2009, and how to do anything he knew how to do before then. But for anything more recent, he must rely on all sorts of reminders, including post-it notes, files, and the ever-present pen that he uses to record messages and reminders, and software on his computer that translates what he records into words that appear on the screen.

Although he was an astronomer who worked with Lauren and others at Mount Wilson Observatory in California, and his work could be compared to Einstein's, Gus had an aneurysm which affected his hippocampus (that's part of his brain) in such a way that every time he goes to sleep, he forgets everything he learned the previous day. Gus had to return home to be close to familiar surroundings and his sister Lucy who can help him. There might be a cure for the condition, but in the future. Also in New Orleans is his best friend since the age of 6, a lawyer named Jerry. Who has to remind Gus every day that he and his wife have split up. There is also Bernadette upstairs from Gus, who cares a lot about him, and has to tell her son Max not to swindle Gus, who does NOT owe him money.

Molly is in college but heavily in debt until the delay in getting her inheritance is resolved. For now, she works as a waitress at a restaurant run by Baptiste, and she shares an apartment with the prettier Jolene. Molly's dream is to own a flower shop.

Gus and Molly meet and there is a connection. Molly sells him a valuable ring that belonged to a relative; she wanted to sell a watch but Gus knows it's a fake. Gus knows he wants to date Molly and gives himself plenty of reminders. Molly likes Gus too. But Gus doesn't dare tell Molly the truth. And his strange behavior makes Jolene suspicious. Especially since Gus, without his memory, thinks Jolene is Molly on several occasions. Jolene blames too many women in Gus' life.

So will it work? What will happen when Molly knows the truth?