Dan Mulligan is a formerly successful record label executive living in New York city. After being fired from his job, he goes on a drinking binge which leads him to encounters Gretta James . Gretta is a young and fiercely independent songwriter who has just broken up with her long-time boyfriend and songwriting partner Dave Kohl , a newly successful musician who had an affair with one of his producers' assistants. Captivated by Gretta's music, Dan offers her to sign her to his former record label, and although she initially refuses she reconsiders the offer and agrees.