Rose Morgan (Streisand), a middle-aged English literature professor at Columbia University, shares a home with her vain, overbearing mother, Hannah (Bacall). While attending the wedding of her also-vain sister, Claire (Rogers), to Alex (Brosnan) - who were introduced during Claire's second marriage, when Rose and Alex were dating - she tells her best friend, Doris (Vaccaro) that she has reached the point in her life where she knows she'll never get married. But she also ruminates on how wonderful it might feel to have a partner who knows the things she likes, the things she's afraid of; who really knew her. Shortly after, Rose has to deflect a drunken and too-touchy Alex - revealing she still has complicated feelings for Alex - and collect her sister, who has been dancing and making out with some random wedding guest.