Undergraduate student Lindsey Rutledge and English literature professor Adam Evans kiss and cuddle in a hot tub. After dining with their friends, Sam and Alice Bingham, Karen Evans accuses her husband, Adam, of having an affair with one of his students. At first, he denies it but then admits to two liaisons. His current affair is with Lindsey, a student about the same age as their daughter Kasey. He rationalizes that he loves Karen but he is “smitten” with Lindsey. He babbles on about how men have different needs than women and it is possible to love two women at the same time. Karen is wounded by his infidelity and thrown off balance after twenty-one years of marriage. In bed, Karen wants to know how much time Adam has spent with his girlfriends, but he denies taking lovers to out-of-town work conferences. Later, Karen tells Alice she wants to divorce her cheating husband. Alice points out that if Karen forces Adam to choose which woman he wants to be with, he will leave her. Alice admits that her husband Sam has had flings and advises Karen to let her husband’s love affair run its course. Soon, Pete Lachappelle, a carpenter that Adam has contracted to build a bookcase, surprises Karen when he comes to the house to do the work. Karen goes back to bed and invites Pete to join her. In bed, Pete amuses Karen and makes her laugh. In their Montreal hotel room, Lindsey wonders if Karen will pine away once Adam leaves her, but Adam does not seem too concerned. Driving home, Adam parks the car a block from his house so that the neighbors do not see him with Lindsey. At home, Adam is flustered when he sees his wife in the company of a younger man. Soon, Karen discovers that Adam plans to spend his two-week vacation with Lindsey at the couple’s country home in Vermont. Karen suggests that she invite Pete and make it a foursome. When Adam tells Lindsey they’ll be sharing vacation time with Karen and Pete, she likes the idea that her relationship with Adam will be out in the open. Awkward introductions are made and the couples drive to Vermont. Upon their arrival, Adam and Lindsey go skiing. Later, as Pete prepares a meal in the kitchen, Adam quizzes him about his plans for the future. Pete plans to live one day at a time and then asks Adam about his plans. Adam wants to win a Nobel Prize and live forever. Through Pete, Adam learns that Karen is unhappy with him for turning down some great career opportunities. At night, Adam and Lindsey share the downstairs bedroom, while Pete lifts Karen onto his shoulders and carries her upstairs. When Pete becomes passionate with Karen, she stops him, unable to make love knowing her husband is downstairs. Instead, Pete makes love to her in the back of his truck. Later, daughter Kasey walks in on her father and Lindsey in bed. Her embarrassment becomes anger until the subject turns to why Kasey has skipped exam week. When she tells her parents that her boyfriend Paul left her, Pete interrupts the family discussion to tell Adam that Lindsey has left with his car. At Lindsey’s house, her father, Steven Rutledge, realizes that Adam is more than his daughter’s professor, and the insults begin to fly. Lindsey uses all her charm to point out that her father is a hypocrite who dates young girls. Meanwhile, Kasey tries unsuccessfully to persuade Pete that he is wrong for her mother. Steven decides to spend the weekend with Adam and Lindsey but becomes confused and angry when he is introduced to Karen and Pete. He wants to leave when Kasey’s boyfriend, Paul, arrives in a taxi. Paul has rethought his feelings for Kasey and wants to get married. The arrival of more people adds further awkwardness to the situation, and Pete decides to leave. Karen wishes him well, while Kasey and Paul go back to school to work on their relationship. Karen persuades Steven to stay for dinner. Afterward, he still thinks different rules of love apply for each sex but he no longer has any ill will toward Karen and Adam when he leaves. Later, Steven returns and invites Karen to dinner. When Adam and Lindsey return from skiing, they see Karen’s note and spontaneously join them. However, when Adam sees Karen gazing into Steven’s eyes in a corner of the restaurant, he is caught off guard. Outside, Lindsey points out the irony of the situation. Pete was never a threat but her father is one. Lindsey realizes that Adam never intended to leave Karen, and she breaks up with him. Karen sees Adam outside the restaurant and excuses herself to go to him, but halfway there, she changes her mind and returns to her dinner with Steven.