It all begins with widowed father and family advice columnist Dan Burns (Steve Carell), who is still reeling from the heartache of loss and takes refuge by trying to maintain order with his three rebellious young girls, while dodging anything unexpected or outside the box. But when Dan heads to Rhode Island, his miffed daughters in tow, for the annual Fall weekend thrown by the large and boisterous Burns family, everything changes. Soon after his arrival, he runs into an alluring woman named Marie (Juliette Binoche) in a bookshop. For the first time in a very, very long time, Dan experiences real live sparks—only to have to douse them liberally when he discovers Marie is, in fact, the brand-new girlfriend his brother Mitch (Dane Cook) is about to proudly introduce to the family. As the weekend gets under way in the close quarters of a crowded house filled with quirky, prying relatives, Dan and Marie try to squelch and cover up their growing mutual attraction at every turn, leading to one comical situation after another.Yet, no matter how hard they try to do the very opposite, Dan and Marie can't help but fall in love. Now Dan is about to realize that no matter how wise safety might seem, when it comes to real life, he's going to have to break all the rules.