A soon-to-be-married man encounters an exciting stranger after his plane suffers an accident on takeoff.
In New York, faithful, boring book-jacket-summary writer Ben Holmes is ready to fly to Savannah, Georgia, to marry his beloved fiancee Bridget, but the plane crashes at takeoff and Ben is stranded in the airport. But soon he meets free-spirited Sarah, who finds a man called Vic who offers them a ride in his rented car if they will split the expenses. Along their troubled journey, the forces of nature seem to conspire against Ben as he gets better acquainted with unpredictable Sarah. Soon he questions whether or not he should go through with marrying Bridget.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Ben Holmes, a professional book-jacket blurbologist, is trying to get to Savannah for his wedding. He just barely catches the last plane, but a seagull flies into the engine as the plane is taking off. All later flights are canceled because of an approaching hurricane, so he is forced to hitch a ride in a Geo Metro with an attractive but eccentric woman named Sarah. And that's just the start of his ordeal.—Tim Horrigan <[email protected]>
Ben Holmes, a regular guy, is on his way to his wedding. A little accident hinders the takeoff, and soon Ben finds himself in a stranger's rental car with eccentric but attractive Sarah. Several catastrophic incidents later, the two are thought to be a married couple and run into Ben's best friend and his girlfriend, who happens to be the bride's best friend. Now, Ben and Sarah must face the problem that they really might be made for each other, but they also might just be panicking about upcoming events: his marriage and her first meeting with a special person.—Julian Reischl <[email protected]>
Ben Holmes (Ben Affleck) is a "blurb" writer, based in New York, responsible for writing the short introductions on the sleeves of hardcover books. Ben is engaged to be married and attends a bachelor party thrown by his best friend Alan. Ben's father Richard (Michael Fairman) and his grandfather attend the bachelor party. The grandfather suffers a heart attack when the stripper gets too close to him.
On his way from his home in New York City to Savannah, Georgia for his wedding to Bridget (Maura Tierney), Ben is already anxious about flying. Alan was supposed to go with Ben, but he forgot the rings at home and had to go back and catch the next flight.Ben's nerves are worsened when he's seated next to Sarah (Sandra Bullock), a free-spirited drifter who begins to talk to Ben immediately. On takeoff, a bird flies into one of the engines, causing a flame-out.Now terrified to get on another plane, along with almost everyone else who was on board, Ben agrees to rent a car with Sarah, who also needs to get to Savannah within a few days, and another passenger, Vic (Jack Kehler). Due to the flight cancellation, all the rental cars were out already, and so Sarah got Vic, who had a rental and agreed to take her and Ben along with him all the way to Savannah.
Bridget was already in Savannah with her parents Virginia (Blythe Danner) and Hadley (Ronny Cox). Virginia is not happy that Bridget is marrying Ben and invites Bridget's ex-flame Steve (David Strickland) to the wedding to change her mind. Steve is a successful lawyer in Savannah and is also backed by Bridget's father.Steve proceeds to seduce Bridget.
Numerous obstacles begin to arise to prevent Ben from getting to his wedding. First, Vic begins smoking marijuana on the road (and was driving with an expired license), which leads to the three being arrested. Sarah says that she needs to be in Savannah on time, else she will lose $25,000.Ben and Sarah are able to get released (when they say that they had no knowledge of drugs in the car) and buy train tickets to Georgia. Ben and Sarah share a moment on top of the train car, screaming into the picturesque landscape while the train is stopped on a bridge (waiting for the tracks to clear in front), only to discover once they climb down that they've entered the wrong car (The last 3 cars were decoupled from the Savannah bound train) and are now on their way to Chicago.
They disembark from the moving train and escape from a rainstorm in a 24-hour KMart, where they buy dry clothes and bond while discussing Ben's mixed feelings about getting married. Sarah reveals that she's been married twice and is traveling to Savannah to collect a large sum of money from the sale of a bagel shop that she opened with her 2nd estranged husband, Carl (John Doe).
The next day, Sarah discovers Carl attempting to thwart the sale of the bagel shop, so she asks Ben to pretend to impersonate her husband (in front of the buyer) when they get to Savannah, explaining that she has a 10-year-old son from her first marriage that she hasn't seen in two years and wants to give him the money from the sale as a way to mend fences between them. He agrees, and she convinces him to pretend he's a surgeon and they're a married couple to charm their way onto a bus of retirees headed to Florida led by Joe.
At the first overnight stop, Ben finds himself increasingly attracted to Sarah. He calls his parents and admits meeting Sarah to them and says that she is nothing like anyone he has ever met. Ben's mother Barbara (Janet Carroll) tells Ben not to get derailed at this point in the process and that Bridget is the right choice for him.He encounters his best man, Alan (Steve Zahn) and Bridget's maid of honor, Debbie (Meredith Scott Lynn) in the hotel lobby. Alan could not find a flight out of NYC either and shared a ride with Debbie who had a car.Ben leaves to find Sarah, but Debbie confronts him after one of the retirees refers to Sarah as his wife. Furious, Debbie returns to Savannah with Alan to reveal all to Bridget.
In their hotel room, Ben angrily blames Sarah for disrupting his life. She accuses him of being afraid to live his life honestly. They begin to kiss, but Ben stops himself and they leave to collect the money his parents have wired him to get home, only to discover the bank is burning down. Ben and Sarah both begin laughing hysterically, wondering what else could go wrong, and begin kissing again. Back at the hotel, they're confronted by the retirees, who have discovered their lie, so they flee.
Sarah recalls seeing a car for sale in town for a low price and suggests she striptease in a local bar to raise the money to buy it. The bartender, however, asks Ben to dance instead, and they realize they've walked into a gay bar. Ben is nervous at first, but soon gets into the dance and earns them enough money to buy the car.
On the road to Savannah, Ben tells Sarah he's prepared to call the wedding off, but Sarah tells him he's known her only for a few days and it would be a crazy thing to do. A hurricane approaches Savannah, and the harsh weather forces Ben and Sarah to abandon the car and run the rest of the way to the wedding. Ben finds Bridget and realizes he does love her and wants to spend his life with her. Sarah witnesses their reunion and leaves quietly.
Ben and Bridget go on their honeymoon and get married in Hawaii. Sarah visits her son and reconciles with him. Ben states in voiceover that he hopes that wherever Sarah is that she's found happiness.
