Tom (Gordon-Levitt) is a hopeless romantic who wanted to be an architect, but now writes cute copy at a greetings-card company in Los Angeles. Summer (Deschanel) joins the firm, and he is instantly smitten – she even likes the Smiths.
I say instantly, but the film makes us wait a little while before we witness their first encounter. In its opening scene, they’ve already broken up, and we skip back and forth between significant moments in their courtship, as if browsing desultorily through a photo album.