Three couples have been friends forever. They enjoy socializing and spending time together. Jennifer Westfeldt plays Julie Keller who is best friends with Jason Fryman (played by Adam Scott). Maya Rudolph plays Leslie who is married to Alex (played by Chris O'Dowd). Kristen Wiig plays Missy who is married to Ben (played by Jon Hamm).
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Leslie and Alex announce, at a dinner with all the others, that they are going to have a kid, but that nothing will change that will affect their friendship. Missy and Ben also have a baby. Everything changes in the dynamic between the group once the children enter the picture. Julie and Jason feel a bit left out because none of their friends seem available like before to go out and have fun. When they do go over to Leslie and Alex's house they find that Leslie is severely stressed about raising a child and the house is completely out of control caused by the demands of the child-rearing. Missy and Ben on the other hand start to hate each other, and Missy starts to drink excessively to cover this up. Their relationship has soured because they lost the ability to have sex whenever they want as having kids interferes with this. They used to have sex everywhere including in public bathrooms, but now this is no longer part of their relationship, the passion is gone, and they hate each other for it.
Julie and Jason are as close as two people could possibly be as friends. They live in the same apartment building but in different apartments. Their friendship is so strong, but they are not sexually attracted to each other. Yet both Julie and Jason want to have a child. They decide to have a baby with each other and share the child-rearing responsibility as equals in a friendship-only relationship. That way they will still be free to find their "person" who is the one they can fall in love with and not have it messed up with the pressures of raising children. They like the idea of this especially because Julie is getting close to the age where having kids will no longer be an option and she does not have any prospects for a boyfriend. Jason and Julie have uncomfortable, embarrassing sex in order to get Julie pregnant. To the surprise of everyone, especially their friends, they have a healthy and happy child, deeply loved by both Jason and Julie, that is well adjusted and so happily being raised. Compared to the others, Jason and Julie seem to be extremely successful in raising their child and do so without difficulty or stress, both delighting in the process and giving all they can to make it wonderful.
All six friends take some time off from child-rearing to go on a ski vacation together. Missy and Ben get into a fight at the dinner table. Ben loses his cool from having too much to drink and attacks the apparent happiness of the relationship between Jason and Julie, mostly because his own relationship with Missy has deteriorated so badly. Ben confronts Jason that he did not think the strange child-raising plan through, especially what they will tell their kid when he grows up about his parents that just had a baby together because they were friends, yet not in love with each other. In a passionate speech, Ben tells all of them how much he truly loves Julie and that she is the only person in the world he would want to have a kid with.
Julie starts to have real romantic feelings for Jason but he does not feel the same, at least he does not think so. Jason starts dating another woman and Julie finds a man. But neither relationship is a good one. Jason's girlfriend does not want to have any kids. Julie is in love with Jason and not her boyfriend. Julie tells her love to Jason but he rejects her. Julie moves from New York City to Brooklyn to get some distance between them because she cannot stop loving Jason. They continue to take care of their child together until Jason realizes that he already had his "person" in Julie who is not only the great mother of his child but the only one he truly loves as well.
Best part of story, including ending:
The friendship between Jason and Julie is really terrific. It is a genuine treasure.
Best scene in story:
When Jason comes to Julie to finally prove his love to her by saying he will have aggressive sex with her to show, that he is both in love with her and also sexually attracted to her, this is a very dynamic moment.
Opinion about the main character:
Julie has a low self-esteem problem. She does not really know how great she really is. Luckily she is able to discover her true nature with the help of her friend Jason.
