In London, Iris Simpkins write a wedding column in a newspaper and has an unrequited love for her colleague Jasper Bloom. Nearby Christmas, she is informed that Jasper is engaged and will marry another colleague, and her life turns head over heels. In Los Angeles, the movie-trailers maker Amanda Woods has just broken with her unfaithful boyfriend Ethan and wants to forget him. Amanda access a house exchange website, and impulsively swaps her mansion for Iris' cottage in Surrey for the holiday along the next two weeks. While in Surrey, Amanda meets Iris' widow brother and book editor Graham and they fall in love for each other. Meanwhile Iris meet her next door neighbor, the ninety year old screenplay writer Arthur, who helps her to retrieve her self-esteem, and the film composer Miles, and they fall in love for each other.