Writer-director Noah Baumbach's drama tells the tale of a less-than-happy family reunion of American intellectuals. Margot, a writer whose short stories have been published in the New Yorker, together with her teenage son Claude, visits her sister Pauline, who is about to be wed for the second time. However, the siblings have had a stormy relationship and Margot doesn't approve of Pauline's fiancé Malcolm, who seems to spend all day writing letters to the press. Meanwhile, Margot tries to keep her crumbling marriage to Jim a secret, particularly from her son, while at the same time forging a relationship with fellow writer Dick. And the fact that none of them, particularly waspish Margot, can open their mouths without upsetting someone promises a wedding that won't be forgotten - for all the wrong reasons.