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BROKEN EMPTY PROMISES — Adam (Victor Garber) has not seen or heard from his daughter after walking out on his family almost thirty years ago. He had remade himself as a vintner - and quite a popular one at that - but that success will never be able to erase the fact that he was a horrible husband, and an even horrible father. So it was quite a shock when, almost a year ago, his ex-wife reached out to him to make peace. But before that peace could extend to their daughter, his ex-wife dies.

Three months after her mother’s death, Laura (Olivia Williams) discovers an email from her father, inviting her mother to visit his vineyard in California. Though angry at her late mother for doing such a thing (the man abandoned them, for crying out loud!), curiosity wins over that anger. She takes a much-deserved leave from work, and takes her nine-year-old son on a short vacation in California. She doesn’t know what to expect but what she knows is that she’s going to try to close a very painful chapter in her life.

Carter Smith (Jon Hamm) is a washed-up former child star trying to find his way back into show business. He has appeared in countless late-night commercials and though he feels like he had acted his heart out in all of them, he hasn’t caught a break. Not a single one (he has played a giant chicken, a greasy con-man, a legless pirate…etc.). When Carter finds out that he’s going to Cannes for the 30th Anniversary celebration of Finding Mickey, the hit, coming-of-age movie that brought him to Hollywood at the age of 10, he knew that this is his way back in.

However, there's one catch. Carter must go with his two co-stars in the movie or he won’t be able to go at all. The determined Carter looks for Ben Johnson (Reed Diamond), who played the chubby, scaredy-cat Jeremy in the movie. He finds Ben in Connecticut, running a boat-rental business. Ben initially refused to be swayed by Carter—yes, he had a great time making Finding Mickey, but his role as the chubby scaredy-cat became a stigma that took him years to shed. Going to Cannes for the anniversary would only make people remember. But after a few rounds of drinks, Carter manages to convince Ben to go.

The two men then go to London to fetch their other co-star in the film, Margaret Lewis (Olivia Williams), who played the boys’ savvy, tomboy-ish British neighbor in the film. The slightly eccentric Margaret writes detective novels under a pseudonym and it doesn’t take much for Carter to convince her to come with them to France.

But the moment they set foot on France, they get held up by a bunch of thieves. With no money to even call his agent, Carter decides to play con-man (he played one on TV, how difficult can it be to actually do it?) and devises a plan that will make use of his charm and acting skills, Ben’s business skills and Margaret’s fluency in French to pull off a con that will bring them to Cannes just in time for the party.

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Anthony (Alan Rickman) and Jillian (Emma Thompson) have been in love with each other for almost thirty-five years but have never done anything about it. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Anthony used ‘taking care of Helena and Richard’ – his much younger siblings – then ‘his banking career’ as his reasons; Jillian used her desire to see the world, pursue her art, and taking care of her niece as her excuses. They’ve had so many chances but they always manage to flub their way through it.

Hopefully, all that’s about to change. Richard (Matthew Goode), is going to get married to Bianca (Rose Byrne), who is best friends with Cate (Rosamund Pike), Jillian’s niece. The three had hatched up a plan to ensure that Anthony and Jillian’s nth chance for ~*+*~love~*+*~ will succeed. The plan is fool-proof – Helena (Olivia Williams) and her husband, Neil (Reed Diamond) are flying in from New York a few weeks early to help with the wedding preparations – and if anyone knows how to get things done, it would be those two. Tagging along for the ride is Michael (Matt Bomer), Neil’s business partner, who had never set foot in London, ever.

But as the wedding date looms near, hijinks begin to pile up on all six. Bianca’s turn as the Mother Of All Bridezillas leads her to detach herself altogether from the wedding, worrying Richard to death; a surprise pregnancy makes Helena and Neil question what they really want in their relationship (since neither wanted any children); and how will Michael tell Cate, who’s been spurned by love too many times, that he isn’t actually gay (as she had assumed)?

Anthony and Jillian on the other hand, are seemingly obtuse to everything that’s happening around them. Are they destined to grow old as neighbors, gazing at each other longingly through the kitchen window?

Arthur Tillman (Enver Gjokaj) has a different approach to storytelling—for him, his characters are alive. No, not that crap about his characters being alive in his heart and through his actions. His characters are actually alive—they interact with him on a daily basis, give him advice, (from what to wear, what to say during interviews, to whether or not he should put salt in his salad) and have feelings. At first, Arthur’s literary agent had considered forcing the young writer to go see a psychiatrist, but shelved the idea once it became apparent that Arthur’s novel could be turned into a series and would be a certified cash cow.

Captain Jackson (Hugh Laurie) and Baroness Waverly (Olivia Williams) have accompanied Arthur through thick and thin during the past ten years, but has grown bored with the suspenseful Edwardian-era life that Arthur has put them in. Captain Jackson likes to explore the 1960s while Baroness Waverly would like to be a computer terrorizing a space exploration on Jupiter in the year 2425 (her favorite movie is Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey). They've gone partly on strike— they still appear to Arthur, still give him advice on the mundane happenstances of his life, but would be particularly unhelpful on the creative front.

Now suffering from an epic writer’s block and the deadline looming for his new novel, Arthur tries different ways to make the Captain and the Baroness cooperate. It’s not until Arthur meets the ridiculous, over-the-top, faded-to-obscurity, teacher-to-the-stars, actress Rosanna Sutton (Kristin Scott Thomas) in acting class does Captain Jackson and Baroness Waverly start obliging Arthur.

Unfortunately, adding Rosanna to the mix proves to be too much crazy for Arthur to handle. With Captain Jackson's death wishes, Baroness Waverly's insistence of adding in science fiction, Rosanna's insistence on rather extreme character development and the continuous plot changes, will Arthur be able to write his novel in three weeks?