For the first third of this sad, sentimental drama, middle-aged, American divorcé and TV jingle writer Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) hugs his personal failure as he comes to London for his estranged daughter's wedding, while British pollster Kate Watson (Emma Thompson) is oppressed by a domineering mother (Eileen Atkins) and despairs of finding her significant (or even insignificant) other.

They meet cute, as Hollywood scriptwriters say, at Heathrow and much embarrassment ensues (especially Hoffman's speech at his daughter's wedding) as well as romantic strolls that seem nearly as long as the London Marathon and might account for the hero's heart attack.

Hoffman's melancholy listlessness suggest that the film might well have been called "Moon on, Harvey Shine".