Trama

When talk-radio host Emma Lloyd advises one of her listeners to break up with her boyfriend, the jilted ex sets about getting his revenge.

Emma Lloyd has made a career out of her sensible, mature, responsible approach to relationships. She has a hit radio talk-show, an impending book deal, and a loving relationship with her fiancé Richard, a conventional sort--the precise type to which she is drawn. Then Emma finds out that she is already married to a man she's never met, a result of a misguided prank that leaves her bewildered, with her plans for the future threatened. With her wedding just around the corner, Emma must find the mystery man and obtain an annulment. Emma tracks down her "accidental husband": Patrick, a charming and handsome neighborhood fireman, with a big secret...that he was behind the "accidental" marriage. Unable to fess up, Patrick goes along with the ruse pretending to be just as baffled as Emma. While at first their opposite approaches to life create much tension and chaos, Emma soon starts to admire his carefree passion for life and doubt her own conservative, button-down views on life and love. As Emma's wedding draws near, she is faced with the choice between her safe life with Richard or the chance to live in the passionate and spontaneous world that Patrick inhabits.—Orange

In New York, Emma Lloyd gives sentimental advice in her radio talk show "Real Love". She is in the top of her successful career with many listeners; she is releasing her first book about things of love; and she will marry her editor Richard Bratton in a couple of weeks. When Emma advises her fan Sofia to call off her wedding to fireman Patrick Sullivan, the broken-hearted man loathes her. His next-door teenage neighbor hacks Emma's documents and pranks her, marrying her to Patrick. Emma seeks out her husband to annul their marriage and after meeting Patrick, she feels attracted by his free spirit. Emma sees herself at a crossroad and having to choose between the safety of a life with Richard or the crush for Patrick.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Dr. Emma Lloyd is a successful New York City relationship therapist of her own radio call-in show called "Real Love", she who espouses practical love, what she believes is real, as opposed to what most woman are searching for, namely passionate love, which she feels is unrealistic and non-sustaining for a long term relationship. She practices what she preaches, as she is engaged to Richard Braxton, her stable, straight-laced publisher. So when Sofia Chachagua of Astoria, Queens calls in asking for advice about whether she should go through with the imminent marriage to her firefighter boyfriend Patrick Sullivan, Emma, with what little information she has on hand, implies that there is no way their marriage will work. As such, Sofia calls off the wedding, Patrick knowing the reason as he was one of the show's listeners when Sofia called in. When Patrick's computer-hacker neighbor Ajay tells Patrick that he knows how to get back at Emma, Patrick eventually agrees to the plan. As it is public knowledge that Emma is soon to be married, Ajay, through hacking into the state records, can arrange for Emma already to be married, namely to Patrick. When Emma must deal with Patrick on this issue, he plans to be as cooperative as possible while thwarting her every move to get "unmarried" to him. Complications ensue when, instead, he starts to fall for her. And as Emma, out of circumstance, has to spend more time with Patrick, which includes Patrick needing to pose as Richard for the sake of Richard's business, Emma starts to fall for Patrick, but in that passionate love sense in which she does not believe. Emma must decide whether to go against her own long held beliefs and take a chance on Patrick, while Patrick has to decide whether to tell Emma about him being the source of the computer glitch which got them married in the first place. Richard, as the practical, methodical one, could have some say in the matter in what happens between Emma and Patrick.—Huggo

New York firefighter Patrick Sullivan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) had no idea his seemingly idyllic life was about to go up in smoke - especially as the unwitting, second-hand recipient of advice from famed love expert and radio host Dr. Emma Lloyd (Uma Thurman). One day he is a happy-go-lucky guy looking forward to a life with his soon-to-be-bride. Then, his fiance, Sophia (Justina Machado), is seeking couples counseling on the radio from Dr. Lloyd. Lloyd questions Sophia's concept of romantic love and advises her to break their engagement, which she swiftly does.

Patrick is so upset that when he hears that Emma is about to be married herself, he allows his young neighbor, an Indian computer whiz-kid to hack into public records and create a fake marriage between himself and Emma, because he wants to force a confrontation. Emma is told she cannot marry her perfect-gentleman fiance, Richard (Colin Firth), because she is already married. She has no choice but to confront Patrick, who after stringing her along with lie upon lie, finds out that he is attracted to her, and makes a play for her romantically. He proceeds to inject himself into her life, causes her to have to lie herself, to her beloved fiance. Emma is drawn to his immense charisma but tries to ignore it.

Emma needs Patrick's help desperately because he has to sign the annulment papers so that she can marry Richard. Patrick delays this process long enough so that he can get enough time to spend with Emma. At one point, Patrick acts as her fiance Richard and Emma doesn't deny the pretense because of some people watching them while tasting a wedding cake. Unknown to Emma, one of the ladies there happens to be the wife of a man Richard is doing business with. This particular man decides to stop his deals with Richard and is planning to tell him in so during a banquet where both Richard and Emma are attending. This lady (after finding out her husband's plans) meets Emma during the banquet and tells her of the same. Emma wants to save Richard's business, but she is in a dilemma because the lady believes Patrick to be Richard. It so happens that Patrick arrives there at the banquet. Not knowing what else to do, Emma continues to pretend that Patrick is her fiance Richard and that Richard is her brother Carl. Matters get worse when Patrick and Emma are invited to dinner with Richard's business partner and his wife. But the funny side is that Patrick charms the businessman so much that he decides to change his decision and continue business with "Richard".

Later, Emma and Patrick go to dinner with the businessman. Patrick then takes them on a surprise visit to a special event. Patrick stays with an Indian family and is quite close to them. They support and encourage him through his difficult times. It is to a Hindu "sacred thread ceremony" (Upanayana) rite-of-passage ritual, that Patrick takes Emma and the businessman's family. The computer whiz-kid is the one getting initiated. Emma and the other guests have a really good time there, and it is there that she sees a whole new side of Patrick, who had been repulsive to her so far. There is a slight spark of attraction, but Emma flees the scene before anything else can happen.

Patrick continues to pursue her later, and even comes to visit her in her radio studio. There they have a confrontation and then board a lift, continuing their argument. Suddenly Patrick asks the other occupants of the lift to leave and they do so after seeing his fireman's badge. He then locks the lift and then proceeds to kiss Emma. They have quite a passionate time, not knowing that they are being viewed by the security staff on the camera at the top of the lift. Soon Emma can not deny her attraction to Patrick anymore and decides to call off her wedding. She goes to Patrick's lodgings and they make love that night. It is only the next morning that she finds out that Patrick had been keeping tabs on her and stalking her. Patrick then confesses that he had initially wanted to teach her a lesson about love but then fell for her. She is so hurt that he had been using her. She then goes back to the honorable Richard, who still loves her and says that she wants to marry him. Richard tells Patrick to leave Emma alone. Patrick also decides to let Emma go because by this point, he feels he will always have to question her resolve and honesty.

But both Patrick and Emma are miserable with their separate lives. One day before her wedding, Patrick calls her at the radio station and tells her that he loves her. She does not answer him. She confides in her father and asks his advice. He tells her that the decision is hers. At the next day, Emma and her guests arrive early to the church and are getting ready for the wedding. There, Richard tells her that he wants her to be happy and decides to let her marry the man she has fallen in love with. Richard had also heard the radio show the night before and recognized Patrick telling Emma of his love for her. Richard then walks away while Emma activates the sprinkler system with a burning paper. The sprinklers drench the guests who then leave the church to dry.

During this time, Emma's father calls the fire department where Patrick works and asks them to come to the church. When Patrick arrives there, they get married, and live happily ever after. The final scene shifts to a year later where it is shown that Emma is pregnant, and that she and Patrick are still very much in love. The movie ends with a Tamil song "Swasame" from the movie Thenali in the background