Heartbroken, Peter decides to go on a vacation to Hawaii,
in hopes of moving on after his break-up. But to his surprise, he discovers that his ex-girlfriend,
Sarah, also went to the same resort in Hawaii, where he was supposed to stay.
The movie begins with Peter in his house. He admires himself in the bathroom mirror,
practices some piano, and makes his own breakfast. When he finishes his morning routine,
he turns on the television, and watches an interview of his girlfriend Sarah Marshall,
who is a model. He receives a call from her, where she tells him that she’s coming back home. Peter
didn’t realize that she was coming back this early. So, after ending the call, he quickly
tidies up the messy house. He washes dishes and cleans around the house. He also takes a quick
shower. After getting out of the shower, he sees that his girlfriend is standing in the living
room. He flashes his naked body as a surprise, but his girlfriend doesn’t seem interested in
it. Now aware of the serious mood, Peter stares at her intensely. She starts speaking, and says
that she loves him very much. With the tension in her voice, it was obvious that something bad
was about to happen. Peter asks her if she was breaking up with him. She nods in response. He
breaks down and drops his towel. He says that he needs a minute, then begins asking her not
to leave him. Not interested in his antics, she asks him to put some clothes on. She wants to sit
and discuss things in a calm manner. But Peter says that he knows everything is already over.
He asks her about the guy, but she denies having another love interest, and says that they have
grown apart from each other. She also adds that they're living completely different lives. Peter
says that she has been working a lot, so maybe she forgot how it felt to be in a relationship
with him. He requests to hug Sarah, so that she remembers how it feels to be with him. As they
hug, Sarah admits to having someone else in her life, and leaves Peter alone in the apartment.
Later, we see Peter in a bar, with his step-brother Brian. From his face, it’s clear that
he isn’t doing very well. The breakup has shaken him mentally. He watches his girlfriend on TV,
and cries at the same time. Brian asks him if he’s feeling well, and Peter says that he is longing
for intimacy with someone. Brian tells him that he should start working on the Dracula Musical,
since getting intimate with someone is not the solution. In a sad tone, Peter tells Brian, that
Sarah is getting intimate with someone, and it’s all he can think about. Until he does the same,
he knows he won’t feel well. So, he wants Brian to stay, and be his wingman tonight.
Later, Peter is sitting with two girls. They are having a conversation about his work. He
tells them about his break-up, and asks one of the girls to come home with him. They get intimate,
but Peter starts crying when it’s done. He’s finding it difficult to forget all the memories
of his relationship. They were together for 5 and a half years. He sees flashbacks of his
relationship and breaks down. Peter asks the girl if he is weird, and the girl replies that he was
behaving weird from the start. Next morning, Peter visits a doctor. He says that he got intimate with
a stranger. He remembers that he took precaution, but still he wants the doctor to do a checkup.
One day, as Peter is working, he stumbles upon his ex’s TV show. Next morning, Brian and Peter’s
landlord come to visit Peter. He hasn’t come out of the house in 2 weeks. As Peter opens the door,
Brian forces himself inside. He sees that the entire house is a mess. Peter has been
burning all the pictures he had of Sarah. Peter announces that he still loves her,
and Brian tries his best to comfort him. Brian begins reminding Peter of the bad
qualities Sarah had, but nothing seems to work. Peter could not bring himself to get over her.
Brian suggests that Peter go on a vacation; that’ll help him forget things. Brain grabs
Peter’s phone, and permanently deletes the pictures of Sarah he had in there.
In the next scene, Peter is all set to go to Hawaii for his vacation. While boarding his
flight, he sees Sarah. It shakes him a bit, but he tries his best to control his emotions. Later,
when he arrives at a resort, he asks Rachel, the receptionist, about their room availability.
Unfortunately, they were fully booked, and only had Kapua Suite available, which was
out of Peter’s budget. He spots Sarah there, and she walks up to him to greet him. Aldous,
her new boyfriend, joins the two, and gives Sarah a playful spank. Peter feels terrible,
as she introduces them to each other. Aldous asks Peter if he’s interested in having dinner
with them, but Peter rejects his offer. When the couple leaves, Peter thanks Rachel for the offer,
but says that he can’t afford the Kapua suite. She tells him that no-one can afford it,
and offers it to Peter for free. He just has to clean up after himself.
Peter spends the rest of the day crying. Rachel calls him to ask
about how he’s feeling. She has been getting complaints about his crying,
and Peter promises that he would try to keep it down. In the evening,
Peter goes to the dining area to have dinner. While asking for a glass of wine, he spots Sarah
again. She was sitting with Aldous on the table in front of him. Aldous offers him some dinner,
which Peter politely declines. As Peter is leaving the place, Sarah approaches him. She asks if he
followed her, and Peter replies in the negative. He also adds that Hawaii is a great place for
vacation. People go there to have fun, not to follow her. Sarah wishes him a great stay there.
Peter goes to a bar next, where he has a couple of drinks. The bartender understands him,
and encourages him to move on. Rachel comes,
and asks the bartender about his closing time. When she spots Peter,
they have a friendly conversation. Soon after, Peter is crying while playing the piano.
The next morning, Peter grabs a quick breakfast,
and goes to the yoga studio. He notices Aldous and Sarah there, and it angers him.
But he doesn’t stop himself from joining the yoga practice. As they practice yoga,
Aldous does all the poses perfectly. The yoga instructor praises him for it. She asks the
class to try a hard move, but she sees Peter struggling, and stops him out of embarrassment.
Peter goes for a surf lesson next. He is enjoying the company of his surf teacher,
who gives him some advice to get over his ex. He tells him that
he should just enjoy his life, and he’ll forget about her in no time.
Later, Peter is on a call with Brian. Brian asks him to be more friendly, and meet new people.
Peter expresses that he found Rachel very cute, and Brian tells him to shoot his shot.
The next time Peter sees Rachel, he compliments her dress. But he still
hasn’t moved on from Sarah, so he can’t muster the courage to ask Rachel out.
As he eats, he’s interrupted by Aldous and Sarah. Aldous is called by a waiter there to
perform. He dedicates his song to Sarah, and everyone applauds as he starts. Peter leaves
the room to get away from the couple. He meets the guy responsible for breakfast at the resort,
and the guy gives him a tight hug and a beer. He says that he should find someone new,
and move past Sarah. To take Peter’s mind off from Sarah, he asks him to help him cook.
After that, Peter meets Rachel, and asks her if they could hangout. Rachel invites him to go to
the beach that night. Peter is making it awkward, so Rachel grabs him gently, and asks him to change
his shirt. When they sit at the beach, Rachel shares her backstory. She had come to Hawaii for
a guy, but he cheated on her. She didn’t finish school, and has no plans of going home. She asks
Peter about his job. From Peter’s response, it becomes obvious that he hates his job. Peter says
that he works in a rock opera. Their conversation goes smoothly, until they are interrupted by
the sight of Rachel’s ex. Rachel breaks down hysterically, and begins screaming at the guy.
Peter tries to handle it, but gets beaten. The guy he met earlier saves him, and they run to a bar.
At the bar, as Rachel goes to grab another round of drinks,
Peter has some more flashbacks of his past. He seems to lose it again. He feels sad,
but when Rachel gets back, she says she has a surprise. Peter is then called on the stage,
to perform a piece from his Dracula Musical. Though he sings sorrowfully,
Peter totally kills the performance. Everyone at the bar, including Rachel, loved it.
When they get back to the hotel, Peter says that he had a great time that night. Rachel tells him
that she shares his sentiment. When Peter tries to kiss her, she moves away. She makes it clear,
that she doesn’t want to make things complicated. Though he’s disappointed,
Peter understands. He shakes her hand and leaves.
Next morning, Sarah gets a call. She receives the news, that her show got canceled,
which makes her officially unemployed. She shares the news with Aldous, who asks her to
come with him on the tour. She angrily asks him, if he knew about the cancellation all
along. Though he promises that he didn’t, she still believes otherwise. Now mad, Sarah sits
at the table alone. She spots Peter, and calls him over to tell him that her show got canceled. She
is nervous and feeling terrible about it. Peter tries his best to calm her down with words of
encouragement. Sarah feels good after listening to him. She holds his hands and thanks him.
Later, Peter is sharing this with Brian, who refuses to listen. Brian tells Peter
that he’s doing the exact opposite of moving on. Liz, Brian’s wife,
suggested that he should think of how she hurt him, rather than the moment they just shared.
We then see Peter going somewhere, but he stops in his tracks when he notices Rachel. She invites
him to the bar tonight, and Peter suggests they go on a hike to pass some time before leaving
for bar. She agrees. Sarah is hiding nearby and eavesdropping. She had been meaning to find Peter,
and ask him to hangout, but she now knows that Rachel stole her chance at that.
At the end of their hike, Peter and Rachel find themselves standing on a Rock. Rachel suggests
that he should finish his Dracula musical. He expresses that Sarah always found it crazy and
unserious. They continue their conversation, when Peter says something shocking. He tells
her that jumping off the rock would hurt less than losing Sarah did. Rachel suggested that
they should jump then. Peter tries to kiss her for the second time, but she jumps before he can
do so. She cheers for Peter and makes him jump too, but Peter gets stuck midway down
the hill. When he finally makes it down, Rachel leans in to kiss him. They share a sweet kiss.
In the next scene, Peter is woken up by the chef. The chef tells him that
someone else needed the Kapua Suite, but Peter didn’t want to leave. He wants to
spend more time with Rachel. They tell him that another room has become available.
Unfortunately, it was the room adjacent to Sarah’s. He accepts the room anyway.
Peter goes surfing again. He says that he wants to stand in a wave, before he has to leave Hawaii.
While surfing, he finds Aldous, who was also surfing. They have a conversation, and Peter
learns that Sarah’s been cheating on him for a year. He can’t stand learning that information,
and as they surf, he hits Aldous, and they both get engulfed by the wave. Peter survives,
but Aldous almost drowns. He carries Aldous, and brings him to the land. A piece of coral
pierced Aldous’ leg, and it was causing him a lot of pain. When Peter pulls the coral out,
Alduos loses a lot of blood. Peter collapses on the shore in exhaustion. While Peter and
Alduos were surfing, Sarah was having a conversation with Rachel regarding Peter.
During the conversation, Sarah got a bit emotional and cried,
though it seemed fake. But she still thanked Rachel for being there with Peter.
After some time, Peter wakes up, and finds Sarah beside him. He says that he found
out about how she’s been cheating on him for a year. Sarah tries to comfort him,
but he doesn’t like that. They sit and have a discussion. Peter asks her about what he did,
that made her cheat on him. Sarah tells him, that it was too hard taking care
of him when he stopped taking care of himself. He didn’t get out of the house, didn’t shower,
didn’t interact with anyone. It Was all too hard for Sarah. Peter says that she could
have tried a bit more, but Sarah says that she tried in every way possible. She read books,
talked to therapists, and attended relationship seminars. Yet, nothing seemed to help. As she
says that she couldn’t drown with him anymore, she breaks into tears. Peter leaves the room quietly.
In the next scene, we see Aldous getting ready. Sarah says,
that she thought he would wear the shirt she got him. Aldous says that he loves the shirt,
but the one he’s wearing is more appropriate. Sarah now has flashbacks from the past. She
remembers how Peter loved all the stuff she got him. He told everyone about it,
and appreciated her. Sarah feels sad. Something she wanted was missing in
this relationship. Aldous saw that Sarah was hurt, so he wore the one she got him.
We then see the two couples in line for the dining hall. Peter and Rachel are standing there having a
conversation. Aldous did appreciate Sarah’s shirt, but he wasn’t comfortable wearing it. He made it
obvious, that he hated the shirt. Peter asks if they can join them. He never thought that Sarah
would agree, but to his surprise, she did. They all have dinner together, and converse in a civil
manner. Sarah is discussing one of her movies, and Aldous says that it is really bad. The script
and the story of the movie aren't interesting. The other three start feeling awkward. They drink some
more wine, and even finish a couple of bottles. Aldous says that he loves getting intimate with
anyone anywhere, and this upsets Sarah. But Peter saysthat he loves to know that person more,
before getting intimate. Suddenly ,the waiter gets a cake. Rachel feeds Peter the cake with her
hands. Seeing this, Sarah feels awfully jealous. She says that this vacation is just an escape for
those people, who can’t deal with reality. Rachel understands that Sarah is talking about Peter. So,
she feeds him another bite and kisses him. The waiter asks Alduos about the demo that he gave
him. But Aldous says, that he instinctively knew it was not going to be good, so he didn’t
bother listening to it. This makes the waiter feel terrible, and he curses Aldous and leaves. Later,
as Sarah is laying down and Aldous is sleeping, they hear noises from the other
room. Peter and Rachel are getting intimate in the adjacent room. Sarah feels jealous,
so she insists that Aldous does the same. Aldous is not in a coherent state. Still,
he agrees. Sarah seems to be competing with Rachel. When Peter and Rachel realize what
is happening, they begin competing too. Aldous realizes that Sarah still has feelings for Peter,
and tells her that he made a mistake coming here. Sarah confesses that she hates Aldous’ music,
and he confesses that he cheated on her with the housekeeper the other night. Peter tells Rachel
that he is going to Los Angeles in a couple of days. As he caresses her, he tells her that he
loves spending time with her. At that moment, Peter is happier than he has been in months. He
thinks maybe he fell for someone once again. Falling in love is one of the most beautiful
feelings, and Peter didn’t think that he would get the chance of experiencing it again. Rachel tells
Peter that she loves him too, but she has her own insecurities and concerns. She had made a mistake
of loving a person before. She worries, if getting involved with Peter will also be a mistake.
Next morning, Rachel is going to work. Peter sees her and assures her, that he meant what
he said to her. Rachel knows he did, and tells him that she meant it too. She kisses
him before leaving. Peter asks if he can see her tonight, and Rachel replies in the affirmative.
This morning, Peter doesn’t drink. He feels awfully happy. He is finding happiness in
whatever he does. When he meets Aldous in the lobby, he sees that the other man is all packed
up. Peter asks about the luggage, and Aldous tells him that he is going to England. When Peter asks
if Sarah was accompanying him, Aldous says that he is going alone. Peter asks if they fought,
and Aldous exclaims with wonder, that he is surprised how Peter survived with her for 5
years. Aldous felt like the 7 days of vacation were hell; he can’t stand Sarah anymore.
When Peter sees Sarah, she tells him that it was clear to Aldous that she didn’t move on.
As she touches Peter, she tells him that Aldous was probably right. She says that
she made a horrible mistake of leaving him, and tries to kiss him. Peter doesn’t accept
the kiss. When Sarah offers that they get together again ,and go back home, Peter’s
resolve crumbles. She was finally saying that she loved him. Peter asks her to say how sorry she is,
and Sarah goes to apologize. Yet, something doesn’t feel right. He can’t forget how,
she broke his heart into millions of pieces. He realizes that he doesn’t
want her anymore. He tells her that she is evil, and leaves the room abruptly.
Peter then meets Rachel in the entrance. He tells her everything. Rachel wants to hear the details,
and Peter describes it. It hurts Rachel a lot; more than she could imagine. She asks
Peter to leave right then. But Peter says, that he knows he isn’t wrong about what he
feels. He also knows that Rachel feels it too. But Rachel wants him to leave,
and not keep connections. Upset, Peter promises that he won’t bother her anymore.
Next we see Peter lying down beside the chef. He is saying that he is unable to decide what
he should do. He recalls the first day he and Rachel hung out. He recalls an inappropriate
picture of Rachel, that she showed him in the washroom, and goes to take that picture from
there. Rachel has expressed that she wants the picture to be taken down, but the owner threatens
anyone who tries. When the owner comes and asks him to give it back, Peter throws toilet rolls
towards him. Though Peter gets hit, he manages to leave with the picture. When he finds Rachel,
she tells him that she doesn’t want to see him. He silently hands over the picture and leaves.
He boards his flight. When he’s back home, he composes some songs to vent his anger. He spends
a lot of time alone, and works on the Dracula Musical. He also spends time with Liz and Brian.
One day, Rachel receives an invitation to the event of Dracula Musical. When the day of the
event arrives, it is a success, and is loved by all. The whole story of the musical was so unique.
While at the puppet show, Peter spots Rachel in the audience. He’s happy and satisfied to
see her. He hopes that the purpose of him making the musical was fulfilled. The audience applause;
Everyone loved it, and they are cheering him om. The happiness is reflecting on Peter’s face.
Rachel waves at him, and claps the loudest. That makes Peter even more happy. He knew he did what
he was supposed to. He was awestruck and amazed. He still couldn’t believe that she came. Rachel
feels proud of him. She feels extremely happy that he accomplished the work. She tells him that it
was great, funny, and she loved it. Peter replies that he didn’t realize it was comedy until someone
told him. He asks how long she was in town. Rachel says that she is looking for some schools; she is
planning to finish her schooling in Los Angeles. Peter congratulates her, and says it is really
bold of her to do it. Rachel asks him why he didn’t call her even once. Peter replies that she
forbade him from it, and he obliged, even though it was really hard for him to. He asks Rachel
if she still has his number, and adds that they should hangout. Rachel says that she’ll call him.
When she next sees Peter, she tells him how much she missed him. Peter is about to reply,
but Rachel leans in and kisses him. Peter finds the solace he was craving. As they kiss, they
make love. They knew that they were supposed to be together. So, here they are. Against all the odds,
they were finally together. Peter proved that he wasn’t wrong about what he felt. Rachel knew
that she had to be careful after her previous relationship, but in the end she made the right
choice. Peter indeed succeeded in forgetting Sarah Marshall. He and Rachel are now together for life.