Margot Zeller (NICOLE KIDMAN), a savagely bright, razor-tongued short-story writer who creates chaos wherever she goes, sets off on a surprise journey to the wedding of her estranged and free-spirited, unassuming sister Pauline (JENNIFER JASON LEIGH).

Margot, with her all-too-rapidly maturing son Claude (ZANE PAIS) in tow, arrives with the gale force of a hurricane. From the minute she meets Pauline's fiancé - the unemployed artist Malcolm(JACK BLACK) - Margot starts to plant seeds of doubt about the union.