One afternoon in Los Angeles, California, doctor Zack Elliot and his wife, ambitious television executive Claire Elliot, view a potential new house, but Zack convinces Claire they cannot afford it. Back at his office, Zack consoles a possible cancer patient named Arlene Powers before getting into his car and staring at a homosexual couple beside him on the street. Upon returning home, he announces that he has changed his mind and decided to purchase the house. Moments later, the Elliots receive a visit from their friendly elderly neighbor, Winnie Bates, who causes them to feel guilty for moving. That evening, after making love to Claire on the living room floor, Zack lies awake thinking about Arlene’s diagnosis. The next day, he plays basketball with his friends, then meets Claire to attend a talent competition at a country-western bar. In order to keep one of the untalented but earnest singers from feeling bad about her poorly-received performance, Zack and Claire decide to play piano onstage while singing egregiously off-key, soliciting boos from the crowd. Late at night, Zack receives a telephone message from Arlene announcing that her husband recently left her. Zack visits her house, but she becomes angry because he convinced her that the diagnosis would strengthen her marital relationship. On his way home, Zack picks up a male prostitute in an alleyway, but immediately changes his mind and continues driving. One night, the Elliots watch An Affair to Remember while reciting the dialogue from memory. Meanwhile, a health-conscious novelist named Bart McGuire exercises in his living room before going to a gay club. After having sex with another man from the bar, Bart falsely promises to telephone him to arrange another date, and continues his solitary routine as a bachelor. One day, Bart schedules a doctor’s appointment, but discovers that Zack is filling in for his regular physician. During the exam, Zack compliments Bart on his novels, prompting the patient to ask the doctor to lunch at the end of his shift. After the meal, Bart takes Zack to a bookstore, where Zack purchases his most recent novel. At the television station, Claire passionately argues with co-workers about the educational merits of broadcasting theatrical plays. Claire attempts to telephone Zack from her office, but is unable to reach him because he is at a gay bar. However, when he returns home, he presents her with a bouquet of flowers. Sometime later, Zack arranges to meet Bart and telephones Claire to make an excuse for his absence that evening. While drinking beers in his living room, Bart questions Zack’s happiness in his marriage, and Zack fails to understand why Bart avoids long-term relationships. Revealing his homosexuality, Bart urges Zack to admit his own sexual curiosity. Although Zack insists he loves Claire, the two men kiss and move to the bedroom, where they make love. Afterward, Bart urges Zack to leave, prompting him to become annoyed. As Zack returns to his routine, his sexual relationship with Claire begins to suffer. One day, Zack visits Bart’s home and yells at him about his promiscuous lifestyle. Every night, Zack and Claire viciously argue about trivial subjects, and Claire requests a year off work to repair their relationship. Instead, her boss promotes her, forcing Claire to ask her husband to reaffirm their plans to have a child in the near future. While Claire is in New York City for a meeting, Bart invites Zack to spend the weekend together. Sitting on the porch, Bart admits that he first came to terms with his homosexuality to rebel against his oppressive father. When Zack critiques Bart’s most recent novel outline by claiming the work lacks “honesty,” Bart becomes angry for Zack’s hypocrisy and inability to own up to his sexuality. A few minutes later, he apologizes, and Zack admits that he is seeking a stable relationship. In bed that night, Zack admits his love for Bart, and the next day, Bart becomes evasive. When Claire returns from New York City, she confronts Zack about his growing reclusiveness, and he leaves. The next day, Zack returns and admits his homosexual urges and his infidelity with Bart. Believing that their entire eight-year marriage has been a deception, Claire refuses to accept his confession and calls him a fraud. Zack asks Bart if he can stay at his house, but Bart invents excuses to refuse, and Zack checks into a motel. Meanwhile, Claire finds a matchbook containing a man’s address hidden in one of her husband’s coat pockets. She goes to the house and confronts the man, who hardly remembers his encounter with Zack. Afterward, she speaks with Winnie about the issue, and the elderly lady encourages her to stay with her husband. Zack enters his motel room to find Claire sitting on the bed, and they return home to discuss their marriage. Although she suggests he see a psychologist, he insists that he is not ill and refuses to lead a double life by staying together. He reveals he has been considering taking an oncology job in New York City, believing that the distance may help heal their relationship. Many years later, Zack lives in a New York City apartment with his partner, David, and one day receives a telephone call from his brother informing him that Winnie has died. David encourages him to fly to Los Angeles for the funeral, despite Zack’s reservations at seeing Claire with her new husband and son. After the eulogy, Zack and Claire warmly embrace, and she invites him to stop by her house before going to the airport. That evening, Zack meets Claire’s husband and is surprised to learn that she named her son Rupert, which was the name she had always reserved for their potential child. They both proclaim that they are happy with their new lives, and Zack drives away, leaving Claire to return to her family.