Plot summary

The story concerns a small group of 20-somethings who live and work in Seattle. Some of them are friends, even close friends, while others are acquaintances who inhabit the periphery of the plot.Linda Powell works for an organization that deals with environmental concerns. She meets a young U-Dub (Univ of Washington) student, Luiz, who is a foreigner. She's flattered by the attention and the two begin dating. Linda is quite happy, telling a friend that the relationship feels new and exciting and that she and Luiz don't seem to be hindered by the usual problems that couples faced or that she faced in the past. She goes so far as to give him the remote control for her garage parking space, saying he's always welcome. At a later point, Luiz tells her he's having problems with his student visa and has to leave the country for a few days to straighten it out. Linda goes out to a rock club with her friend and spots Luiz at the bar with another woman. Linda leaves upset, being consoled outside by her friend.We're introduced to Steve Dunne while he talks to the audience in his kitchen. Steve lives in an east side apartment building where several of the story's other characters live. Steve laments a recent breakup with a girlfriend and relates a few anecdotes about his own life like the time a doctor tried to explain how couples have children or how his father told him "Have fun, stay single", when Steve was only eight years old. Steve works for a firm that does city planning and hopes that one day his ambitious personal product of building a luxurious commuter train for the city's workforce may be a way to solve the problems of pollution and traffic problems created by drivers.By chance, Steve sees Linda in a rock club and approaches her. Over the din of the live band, Alice in Chains, he tries to convince her he's not a sleazy guy looking only for sex by saying that he doesn't have an "act". She counters, saying that "not having an act *is* [his] act." Steve walks away rejected. A few days later, while at a magazine rack with his friend Dave, Steve bumps into Linda again and the two have a conversation. They go on a date and seem to enjoy each other's company, however, Steve, feeling somewhat doubtful and insecure, doesn't call her back for four days. He still convinces her to give him one more chance and while talking at Steve's apartment, Steve tries to give her the remote to his garage parking space. Linda is immediately defensive, saying she has to leave, reminded of how she gave her remote to Luiz. She goes home and as she's settling in, Steve rings her doorbell. Overwhelmed, Linda jumps into his arms and kisses him, taking him upstairs to her place. The two have sex and become more serious about each other.After a few weeks, Linda drops a bomb: her period is late. Steve buys several home pregnancy tests and the results come back positive. Steve asks her to marry him. Linda has her doubts and leaves her answer ambiguous. While driving, Linda runs a red light and is violently broadsided by a pickup truck. She goes into shock after a few moments and wakes up in a hospital room with minor injuries, however she has lost the baby. Depressed, she decides to tell Steve she's going to Alaska for a few weeks for her job. The two don't acknowledge it right away, but they're breaking up. Steve becomes very depressed but still soldiers on with work. One of the mayor's aides gets him lunch with the mayor where Steve can pitch his commuter train. The mayor coldly rejects the proposal outright, saying he's seen such ideas before and that Seattlelites love their cars too much. Steve becomes more depressed than ever, quits his job and holes up in his apartment which soon becomes a nightmare of strewn trash and unopened mail. Janet, one of his neighbors and a good friend, visits him and tells him that he needs to snap out of his depression before it consumes him. She gives him a secret knock to let him know she'll be checking up on him in the future. Steve begins to clean up his place and look for another job. While waiting for a response to one of his applications, Janet's secret knock sounds at the door. He opens it to find Linda standing there. She's willing to give their relationship another try.Janet Livermore is a 23-yr-old who works in a downtown coffee shop. She has a boyfriend, Cliff Poncier, the lead singer of a local rock/punk band called Citizen Dick. Cliff works three jobs between gigs, is very dedicated to getting his band a recording contract (even though they're not very popular in the Seattle music scene and often receive negative reviews both for live performances & a recently recorded album) and isn't very attentive to Janet, who's crazy about him. Janet becomes somewhat obsessed with her breast size, especially since Cliff decorates the walls of his apartment with posters of big-breasted women. She asks Cliff if her breasts are too small & he gives her an honest "Sometimes." She makes an appointment with a plastic surgeon and the two work out a computer model of what size she'd like to be. When she goes for the procedure, Steve takes her and she tells him what she's looking for in a man; someone who has their own place, a steady job, is responsible and appreciates her and who'll say "God bless you" when she sneezes. Steve tells her it's a "tall order" and she says she's narrowed the list down considerably to someone who will say "God bless you" when she sneezes. She later puts Cliff to that test, issuing a fake sneeze while sitting next to him and he coldly hands her a box of tissues asking her not to get him sick before his next gig.The doctor surprises her with what he calls a first of his career: he tells her he thinks she doesn't need the surgery and that if Cliff can't appreciate her for who she is then he doesn't deserve her. He also tells her he's attracted to her but she very kindly turns him down, saying he's a doctor and handsome and should be able to attract lots of beautiful women. Janet decides to break up with Cliff and makes the best of her single life, regrouping and enjoying her solitude. Cliff tries to win her back by placing rose petals arranged in her name in her kitchen and putting a new stereo in her car. (When Cliff demonstrates how the remote works, he turns the volume up so loud that it shatters all the windows in the car.)Another of Steve's neighbors, Debbie, is also looking for love and romance and uses a gift certificate she'd gotten from her friends for a video dating service -- they originally got it for her as a gag gift. A budding socialite, Debbie has the video made (the director is played by Tim Burton in a cameo) and receives videos from several candidates, some of whom are desperate, others who are pretentious. She narrows the field to one guy, Jamie, who is a bike riding enthusiast and seems genuine. Debbie goes a overboard, buying an expensive bike, a gaudy riding outfit and makes a date with Jamie at a posh waterfront restaurant. On the big day, however, Debbie goes to the wrong location of the restaurant and misses Jamie entirely. She rides home to see if Jamie left any messages and finds him there talking happily with her roommate Pam, whom he knew from college. Debbie is immediately jealous and accuses Pam of stealing her date. Since Pam has never been very fond of Debbie, the two start a loud argument that Jamie overhears. Debbie demands that Pam pay her money equivalent to the cost of the video. Jamie decides to retreat from them both. Spurned, Debbie takes a vacation she'd been planning in Cabo San Lucas. On the flight down she sits next to a precocious pre-teen boy who hits on her. When the flight lands, she meets the boy's single father who compliments her gaudy earrings and Debbie is immediately floored. The two hit it off and begin a long distance relationship that seems promising. Cliff helps Debbie move out when she and Stu decide to move in together.Cliff eventually realizes that he can only win Janet back if he treats her better. He leaves a message on her answering machine, singing a new song he'd written for her. He meets her in the elevator of the building when they're both going out for the evening. He compliments her, sounding very sincere. When she suddenly sneezes, he says "Bless you". The two of them embrace passionately.The film ends with an overhead shot of the apartment building that zooms out to show the Seattle skyline with dozens of young voices chattering about love, relationships and complaints.