"New Yorker Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) who is on the verge of losing his dead end job goes to London for a weekend to attend his daughter's wedding, only to learn she has chosen to have her stepfather walk her down the aisle instead of him.

Devastated by this news he leaves the wedding early but misses his plane and is fired on the spot.

Drowning his sorrows at the airport bar, Harvey strikes up a conversation with Kate (Emma Thompson), a slightly prickly, 40 something employee of the Office of National Statistics. Kate, whose life is limited to work, the occasional humiliating blind date and endless phone calls from her smothering mother, is touched by Harvey, who finds himself energised by her intelligence and compassion.

The growing connection between the pair inspires both as they unexpectedly transform one another's lives.