| Director | Mike Nichols |
|---|---|
| Budget | $20 million |
| Box office | $52.6 million |
Manhattan food writer Rachel Samstat and Washington, D.C., political columnist Mark Forman meet at a mutual friend's wedding. Both have been married before and Mark has a reputation for being a serial womanizer. Despite being warned, Rachel becomes involved with him. After a whirlwind courtship, the two organize to marry in a New York City apartment. However, Rachel has reservations. Several people, including her sister, her editor, his closest friends, her father, her therapist, and finally Mark convince her to go through with the ceremony.
Mark and Rachel purchase a dilapidated townhouse, and she struggles to adapt to being a wife in Washington's political high society. The ongoing renovations of their house create some stress in Mark and Rachel's marriage, but they are brought closer together when she discovers she is pregnant. Rachel experiences a difficult labor in which the baby's life is briefly threatened, but she gives birth to a healthy baby girl, Annie.
Soon afterwards, Rachel discovers evidence of Mark's extramarital affair with socialite Thelma Rice during her pregnancy with her second child. She leaves him and takes their daughter to New York, where she moves in with her father. Going back to her old work, her boss Richard gives Rachel her job back as a food writer.
Although Rachel insists that she has left Mark for good, when Richard asks her to dinner, she says they must wait until she is officially separated. She spends days pining for Mark, and is dismayed when he fails to call. One day, Rachel inadvertently leads a burglar from the subway to a group therapy session she is attending in her therapist's apartment. He robs the group and takes Rachel's wedding ring. Later, Mark arrives and asks her to come back, insisting he will never see Thelma again.
Rachel reconciles with Mark to the still-unfinished Washington house, but is constantly checking his things to ensure he stays honest. Running into a gossipy acquaintance, Betty, in the supermarket, Rachel feeds her a nasty rumor about Thelma having an infection of some kind. Rachel maintains her writing job in New York, flying back and forth for it. On her return, Mark confronts Rachel, telling her that Thelma stopped by their house and was angry Rachel had told Betty that Thelma had herpes. Soon afterwards, Rachel's water breaks, so Mark takes her to give birth to their second child.
The New York police return Rachel's wedding ring after they catch the burglar. When she takes it to the jeweler's to get the stone tightened, he asks about an expensive necklace Mark bought for her. Rachel realizes Mark has resumed his affair with Thelma (the necklace is a birthday gift for her), so she sells the ring on the spot. Without telling Mark she knows, Rachel prepares a key lime pie for a dinner party. The subject of infidelity comes up, and she informs Mark that she knows by shoving the pie in his face. Rachel leaves with both her children for New York, this time for good.