A sports writer unused to relationships falls for a fling, leading her to reconsider playing the field in favor of commitment.
New York sportswriter Mack (Gina Rodriguez) has spent years devising successful hook-up "plays" with best friend Adam (Damon Wayans Jr.) and their crew. While it has led to countless one-night stands over the years, following their playbook comes with a strict set of ground rules - chief among them: you can't build a relationship from a play. When Mack unexpectedly falls for her latest target, charming war correspondent Nick (Tom Ellis), she begins to rethink the game entirely. As the lines between work, fun, friendship, and romance begin to blur, Mack must learn what it takes to go from simply scoring to playing for keeps.—Netflix
Mack (Gina Rodriguez) is a 33-year-old sports journalist in New York City who is known for her 'plays', complex deceptions to find hook-ups for herself and her friends - best friend Adam (Damon Wayans Jr.), co-worker Brannagan (Augustus Prew), and his brother Little (Joel Courtney).Adam is also a journalist at the same newspaper and is worried about losing his job as newspapers are not selling anymore. Mack's newspaper might also announce layoffs and to avoid being on the list, she is working on an assignment on "the most memorable sports moments for local New Yorkers". Mack is worried that she does have an original point of view yet. Mack's editor and boss is Karen Kirk (Marin Hinkle).Adam is in charge of visuals, Brannagan does obituaries and Mack does local sports.
While she enjoys her life, she yearns for a more serious relationship. She hopes to find one in Nick (Tom Ellis), a sophisticated war correspondent who has just joined their newspaper. Nick and Karen are old friends, and he is working on his new book. Nick was a finalist for the Pulitzer last year and saved a kid from a burning building in Syria.Mack finds Nick incredibly sexy and gets his attention at the office farewell party for a retiring colleague. Nick and Mack are the last ones at the party and Mack gets Nick to take her home.The two have sex, but Mack is disappointed to find that he only considers her a one-night stand when he asks her to leave right after having sex.Mack believes Nick is an adult compared to all the juveniles she has dated so far. She convinces Adam to help her ensnare Nick. The foursome research Nick's habits and preferences, eventually devising a play called 'The Flurry'. The team has to make adjustments as they have never run a play to move from the "one-night" category to the "dating regularly" category. All their plays are focused on hook-ups.
The plan begins with Mack intentionally running into Nick at his book club, but ignoring him, attracting his attention. They run into each other again while jogging and now Nick believes that they share a lot of common interests.Mack then arrives at an open-air theatre where Nick was going to watch a classic movie.After finding out that he is going on a third date with another girl, the group - having also recruited the paper's secretary Ashley (Liza Koshy) - schemes to call his date away with an emergency, allowing Mack to take his place at the opera that they were watching together at the Guggenheim museum. At the end of the opera Nick asks Mack out on a proper date, and she knows that she has succeeded.Little and Ashley have a thing for each other. Mack and Nick start dating, while Adam begins seeing a new girl, Claire (Ego Nwodim). Claire can sense that the group is really tense around her. Claire is a dental hygienist, and Mack is bothered that Adam managed to get into a serious relationship without her knowing.
Nervous about losing Nick, Mack decides that she needs to throw a curve-ball to test Nick before she takes it any further. Mack convinces Adam to run a play with her at brunch (Mack brings Nick and Adam has to bring Claire, so it looks like a couple's date), who reluctantly agrees but cautions her to take the relationship more seriously.While at brunch, Mack and Adam demonstrate their natural chemistry and long history together, making Claire uncomfortable with their closeness. Adam makes Mack tell Nick about the profile piece she is writing on local sport fans. Nick offers to review the feature for her.
Mack writes a feature about New Yorkers' favorite sports memories, asking both Adam and Nick to read a draft. While Adam immediately reads and loves the piece, Nick is slow to get to it while working on his latest manuscript.At a gala event where Nick is receiving a humanitarian award from UNICEF, Mack reveals that Nick has rewritten her piece entirely rather than giving feedback. Adam becomes upset at Nick's treatment of her and storms off. Adam says that Nick and Mack have nothing in common and to boot Nick has ignored Mack the entire night at the gala.Mack and Nick fight about the piece that night, where Nick reveals that her job could be in jeopardy in the next round of layoffs at the paper if she does not up her game. Nick says that Kirk told her 3 weeks ago and Mack is upset that Nick never told her.Nick says that he did not like any of Mack's writing and found it mawkish. Mack says that the feature was all about her life, and when Nick rewrote it, he removed everything that was about Mack from it.The two break up, and Mack submits her version of the story, which her editor loves, assigning her to work a Yankees game for the first time.
As the group - minus Adam - celebrates Mack's success, they see Claire with another man. After confronting her, she reveals that she broke up with Adam after their brunch, unbeknownst to the group.She tells Mack that they broke up because Claire could tell that Adam was in love with Mack; Mack is initially resistant, but eventually admits that she has feelings for him too. Adam avoids contact with Mack but agrees to help Ashley surprise Little - who she has started dating - with tickets to the game that Mack is working.To Adam's surprise, he is actually the target of the play: letting Mack confess her love outside the stadium. The two share a kiss before Mack runs off to work the game.
