As five women and one man meet to discuss the works of Jane Austen, they find their love lives playing out a 21st Century version of Austen's novels. Sylvia (Amy Brenneman), is shocked when her husband Daniel (Jimmy Smits), leaves her after 20 years. Jocelyn (Maria Bello), her best friend, distracts herself by breeding dogs. Prudie (Emily Blunt) is a married teacher with fantasies about sex with another man. Bernadette (Kathy Baker) develops a yearning for one more chance at happiness and Allegra (Maggie Grace), Sylvia and Daniel's lesbian daughter, has stopped talking to her lover. Grigg (Hugh Dancy), a computer whiz, seems both out of place and at ease as the only man in the book club.