It centers on a middling playwright (Michael Sheen) amidst a mid-life crisis and failing marriage. His wife (Michelle Monaghan) is tired of being second-fiddle to his work, she wants a family. But incapable of functioning in reality, he submerges himself in an elaborate play about his life. The only person who understands his plight is his best friend, Alexander Taft (Jeff Goldblum), a behavioral psychologist with a mid-life crisis of his own.