In this well-scripted ensemble drama written and directed by Willard Carroll, eleven contemporary residents of Los Angeles search for the Holy Grail of love. The sterling list of actors and actresses play characters who all trip, stumble, and fall as they try to communicate and sometimes commune with members of the opposite sex.

Cooking-show hostess Hannah (Gena Rowlands) and her husband Paul (Sean Connery) struggle with a secret that has always been a sore spot in their long marriage. Mildred (Ellen Burstyn) tries to find some intimacy with her gay son Mark (Jay Mohr), who is dying of AIDS. Meredith (Gillian Anderson), a cautious theatre director who claims to have been "scalded" in previous romantic affairs, doesn't know what to do when she finds herself being pursued by Trent (Jon Stewart), an architect who is honest, caring, and undaunted by her rebuffs. Two unhappily married individuals, Gracie (Madeleine Stowe) and Roger (Anthony Edwards), meet regularly to make love and to celebrate the sexual pleasure that is lacking at home. Hugh (Dennis Quaid) drifts from bar to bar telling tall tales to women who will listen. And Joan (Angelina Jolie), an actress, desperately attempts to connect with Keenan (Ryan Philippe), a quiet young man still suffering from the tragic loss of a lover. The surprising connection between all these individuals is resolved in the end, a technique that aptly serves to reinforce the zigzag course love takes in our times.