| Director | Josh Boone |
|---|---|
| Box office | $977,671 |
Novelist and teacher Bill Borgens still misses Erica, who left him for Martin two years ago. Instead of writing, he spies on them while "jogging". Their teenage son Rusty is secretly infatuated with his classmate Kate, and their cynical, college-aged daughter Sam prefers one-night stands to relationships.
On Thanksgiving, Bill still sets Erica a place. Over dinner, Sam announces publication of her first novel. Bill is thrilled, as he has raised them to be writers, but upset he did not help her with it. Rusty goes to a second dinner with Erica and Martin, but Sam refuses, citing Erica's betrayal.
At a bar, after Sam's classmate Lou warns her about a sleaze, he himself persists and they go for coffee. Discussing favorite books, Sam is unnerved by their similar tastes so bolts, fearing a relationship. When Lou does not come to their writing seminar, she finds him at his dying mother's house.
Sam, seeing Lou's vulnerability, goes out with him. Discussing her novel, she explains Erica openly cuckholded Bill. Listening to Lou's favorite song, "Between the Bars" by Elliott Smith, Sam begins to cry, afraid he will hurt her. Lou promises he will not, and they kiss.
Rusty reads a poem in class, which is about Kate. As Bill pays his children to write frequently in their journals, he reads Rusty's to check on his progress. When caught, Bill suggests he really experience life to become a better writer.
Inadvertently seeing Kate doing cocaine at her boyfriend Glen's party, Rusty and his friend Jason start to leave. When Glen hits her, Rusty punches him and the three flee. Bruised and high, Rusty brings her home. As he is tucking Kate into bed, she guesses his poem was about her, they kiss and begin a relationship. On Christmas Day, they have sex in his closet so it is memorable. Rusty gives Kate a copy of his favorite novel, It, and she gives him her favorite album. Being an addict, Erica catches her eyeing her medications.
Bill has trysts and jogs with his married neighbor Tricia, but still mopes over Erica. While Christmas shopping he runs into her and, over coffee, says he would be a much better husband if they tried again. Tricia helps Bill create an online dating profile. After an okay date, he stops to leave his wedding ring at Erica's but changes his mind after seeing her reading his book.
At Sam's book-launch, Bill makes a speech about the writing process. Lou invites Erica, who is uncomfortable, but Bill encourages her to talk to Sam. When Erica tries, she barely acknowledges her. Sam breaks up with Lou for inviting Erica.
Sam unwittingly gives the alcoholic Kate champagne, who becomes incapacitated after mixing drugs and alcohol. Sam's classmate Gus takes her home, where Bill and Erica discover the unconscious Kate, raped. Devastated, Rusty goes on a drunken binge. While at a convenience store with Jason he runs into Glen, who beats him up. Kate apologizes to Rusty from rehab, hoping she will deserve him one day.
A concerned Bill suggests Rusty channel his pain into his writing, who then gets grounded when he asks if he did the same with Erica. The resulting story is entitled after I've Just Seen a Face" (which he hears when thinking of Kate). Later, his favorite author Stephen King calls, as Sam gave it to him, who gets it published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
A frustrated Sam tells Bill to forget about Erica. He then admits to having left them for six months when she was an infant so, as she had waited for him, he had promised to do the same for Erica. When Lou calls Sam upon his mother's death, she realizes both her own mistakes and that she loves her mother. She reconciles with Erica, gets back together with Lou and supports him through his mother's death.
A year later, Bill has not set a place for Erica for Thanksgiving. A less cynical Sam is still with Lou. As they sit down, Erica comes and tearfully asks to join them. Shocked, Bill is happy she has finally come home. While the family celebrates, Bill narrates from What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.