The movie starts with a person drawing beautiful and colorful illustrations of New
York City. A taxi pulls up in front of an apartment building, and a girl takes out the
luggage from the trunk of the taxi. She is blonde with short hair and she is wearing
a dark blue dress. She looks excited to be in the building. She calls her parents excitedly,
and she tells them how lucky she is to have found such a nice apartment on her budget.
Her parents don’t really listen, but they complain about how she left Omaha and a perfectly
good job in the family business to come to New York. She tells her parents that she needs
to find her own path and make a life for herself. She tells them not to worry about the job,
as she has an appointment set up for it already. She says goodbye and hangs up.
This girl is Piper Grant. She changes her clothes quickly and goes to her appointment
to find a job. She meets with a smart woman at the temping company who interviews her.
She is impressed with Piper’s forwardness and offers her a job at a fashion show which
Piper happily accepts.
Meanwhile, a handsome young man, Austin, is meeting with his mother at a restaurant. He
looks wary, but he covers it up with a smile and meets his mother happily. They are in
a fancy restaurant, and his mother orders a salad for both of them, even though he wants
a chicken sandwich. She talks about his job and tells him how hard she worked for her
job and how he should do the same. Austin is quite irritated by his mom and tells her
that he is trying to carve his own path, and requests that she shouldn’t interfere. She
tells Austin that she has set up an interview for Austin with one of her friends, Alan,
at the journalism company. Austin doesn’t want to go, but he asks his mother if she
promises to let this go if he goes to the interview, and she says she will. On the basis
of her promise, Austin agrees to go to the interview, picking up his salad leaf on a
fork and eyeing it warily.
Now, Piper has gone to the fashion show job. Her boss is an intimidating woman with blue
eyes and dark hair. She tells the three candidates including Piper to be seen and not heard,
but Piper starts talking and asking questions in between which causes her boss to glare
at her angrily. Piper quiets down and starts to listen to her boss’s instructions. Piper
is being noisy and annoying, so her boss sends her to get orders of juice from a juice shop.
Piper doesn’t want to go, but she earns another glare from her boss when she tries
to object, so she leaves quickly to get the juice.
Austin walks on the sidewalk, trying to get a taxi and Piper is also there with her juice
orders. She flags down a taxi, but Austin takes it from her because she isn’t fast
enough to get in. She shouts an insult about chivalry at him, but he is already gone. So,
she tries to flag down another taxi. Piper gets back to the fashion show late and spills
the drinks on a white colored dress by accident. Her boss looks at her as if she is tired of
all her annoying antics and she fires her.
Austin reaches the journalism company and meets Alan. Alan tells him that he wishes
he had the kind of connections that Ausin had when he got his job. He tells Austin that
he is excited for him to work there. Austin is surprised that his mother would bluff him
like this. He cannot deny the job, and even though he does not like it, he doesn’t say
anything to Alan.
Fired from her job, Piper leaves and sits at a table at a café, where she starts to
draw. Drawing is her comfort, and she feels peaceful when she draws.
Night falls, and Austin sits at his table, writing his book for kids. He writes the final
sentence and smiles satisfied that he has finished his first book. He looks proud of
himself.
At the same time, Piper is in her apartment trying to make the radiator work using the
instructions that her landlord had left her. She kicks the radiator twice, and it comes
to life. She then reads the notes, and they tell her what to say to the guy who is across
the hall if he comes to her apartment. At the same time, there is a knock on the door,
and Autin stands there with a bottle of wine in his hands. He is clearly expecting someone
else, and he is surprised to see Piper instead of the landlord, Amelia. Piper recognizes
him as the guy who stole her taxi, and they banter about it. Piper tells him Amelia is
gone for a trip to Japan and that she’s subletting for two months. She realizes what
the wine means, and teases Austin about it before he leaves to go to his apartment.
Piper goes out for a walk and bumps into Austin again. She tells him that Amelia left a message
for him. She reads the breakup message to him, enjoying herself. Austin tells her they
weren’t actually dating. Piper continues to read to tease him until he tells her to
stop. They bid each other goodnight. Later, Austin is unable to help himself, and he knocks
on Piper’s door again. He asks her about her plan for the two months she is there,
and she tells him that she has signed up for a temp agency. He tells her some poetic and
slightly sarcastic quote about success, at which Piper calls him opinionated, thanks
him for the wine, and tells him goodnight.
The next day, Piper goes out and sits in the streets of New York. She draws a bit in her
little notebook and enjoys the scene. She takes a walk, and a guy standing outside a
coffee shop offers her some pumpkin bread. She tries and really likes it and offers the
bread to a passerby who politely denies it. The man offers her a coffee on the house for
her enthusiasm, and she happily agrees and follows him into the coffee shop. He introduces
his husband Toby, who baked the bread, and Piper compliments the bread. The man is named
Will, and they both tell her about how they created the coffee shop as a place of comfort
for newcomers who have just moved to New York. They offer her to sit while they get a coffee
for her.
Austin meets his mother in her dressing room as she prepares for an interview. He complains
about how she lied to him and how she shouldn’t have done that. His mother, Patricia, tells
him how she is interviewing the secretary of the United Nations, and that he could do
things like that too if he tried. He tries to convince her that fantasy books offer people
an escape and are just as important, but she doesn’t listen. Disappointed, he leaves.
After his pointless argument with his mother, Austin comes to his favorite coffee shop which
happens to be the same coffee shop Piper is at. He vents to Toby about his mother, but
takes his coffee and joins Piper at her table. He looks pleased to see her there. They talk
about his mother forcing him to take the job, and he says that he’ll just do the bare
minimum at his job to earn some money. He tells Piper that he wants to focus on his
book. Piper warns him that it might be bad for him not to do his job properly, but he
doesn’t really listen.
Will and Toby try to play matchmakers and send Piper and Austin out together. They tell
Austin to help Piper find the subway because she has her second temp job at the museum.
He teases Piper about getting lost but agrees to help, and the two leave the shop together.
Piper walks alongside Austin and talks about how beautiful the city of New York is. He
says it isn’t really special to him. Piper talks about how the autumn leaves look so
pretty on the ground. Austin says it just reminds him to tell his neighbors to clean
their porches. They laugh and have a fun banter until Austin shows Piper where the subway
is, and she leaves.
Piper goes to her museum job, and her cheerfulness wins over her boss there. He gets her a name
tag, and she starts her job there. A few minutes later, she sees a child sitting on one of
the waiting chairs, immersed in his phone. She asks him why he isn’t looking at everything
in the museum. He tells her he’d rather be in Hawaii, surfing. She asks him if he’s
afraid of sharks, and he says he loves them. She tells him that there’s a shark exhibit
on the third floor. The child’s mother thanks her for sparking his interest. Piper is happy
to help and instructs them on how to get to the exhibit. After her shift, her boss praises
her for her good job and offers her a rare open position as an authority figure. Even
though the offer is good, Piper denies it as it is a job that does not click and doesn’t
suit her passion. When her employer at the temp agency asks why she denied the job, Piper
explains that it’s a gut feeling, and she didn’t feel that this job was right for
her. The woman explains that Piper only has two months and that she needs to make a decision
and figure out what she likes.
Piper tells the agency to hit her with all they’ve got, and she spends a few days doing
various jobs, trying to find out what she likes.
Austin is struggling at his job. Alan is not satisfied with his written pieces, and they
are always late. Alan says he needs more enthusiasm from him and he needs the written scripts
to be faster and more efficient.
To convince Austin of autumn’s beauty, Piper leaves a beautiful autumn leaf at his door.
He smiles at this when he gets home, and the next day Piper finds an article about the
pollution autumn leaves cause and what a nuisance they are, on her door.
Piper sees a door that leads to the roof of the apartment complex, and she goes up to
see Austin already standing there. He pretends to be annoyed that Piper shows up at all his
comfort places. They talk about Piper who keeps letting go of her job and doesn’t
know what to do with her life. They also talk about how Austin has a book that he keeps
fussing about instead of publishing it. Piper encourages him to publish it, even though
Austin says it’s not really her business, and jokingly adds that she would be the last
person he would take career advice from. So, after Piper bids him goodnight, Austin goes
to his apartment and sends his manuscript to a publishing company.
The next day, Piper buys her coffee from the coffee shop and meets with Will and Toby.
She asks them if they think that thirty is a benchmark, and they say that age is just
a number. They ask when her birthday is, and she tells them it’s in five weeks. Will
starts preparing for a party for a birthday. Piper then leaves for her interview which
is for a dinner hostess. She reaches the place and sits there, not knowing what everyone
is preparing for or memorizing. She simply gives them her resume when it’s her turn
for the audition, and tells them she doesn’t have a headshot. They tell her that it’s
a Broadway audition, and Piper realizes she made a mistake. The judge asks her if she
has a song in mind that she can sing. Spontaneously, Piper begins to sing a song, but her voice
is horrible, and the judges ask her to leave. She is embarrassed, and all the girls sitting
to audition laugh at her.
Meanwhile, the publishing company meets with Austin. The lead publisher talks to him and
says they love his work, and they want him to pitch for a series of his books in a few
weeks. Austin is nervous that he has to write so many ideas in so little time, but he shakes
her hand and says they’ll be in touch. He is just happy that they liked his book.
Piper gets lost in the building and finds a Broadway actress who is talking on the phone
about not being able to get some dinner reservations. Piper realizes the restaurant she is talking
about is the same one she worked for. She tells the actress that she can get the reservations
because she is friends with the chef. The actress asks a few questions but then hires
her for assistance. Piper is now happy that she has a full-time job. Piper meets with
Will, and Austin meets with Toby, and they tell them about their jobs and how happy they
are. To celebrate, Will and Toby set up a picnic for the four. Little do they know,
Toby and Will would ditch them and set them up for a little picnic date.
Both Piper and Austin just accept their fate, and with the quilt and food they had been
delivered, they sit in the park and have their picnic. Austin thanks Piper and apologizes
for thinking her ideas wouldn’t work. He tells her he pitched his book and the publishing
company loved it. Piper also tells him about her job and how her parents paid for her college
and wanted her to handle their business. They didn’t consider any job relating to art
or writing a stable career.
Austin then starts to talk about his own book and Piper starts to doodle in her notebook.
Austin feels bad, but on her insistence, he keeps talking, and she keeps doodling. Just
when Austin starts to think his book might not be engaging enough, Piper shows him a
rough illustration of his characters, a bird and a squirrel fighting over an acorn. Austin
is impressed and thinks it’s better than he had imagined. Just then, Patricia calls
Austin and invites him over for dinner. Austin agrees and asks Piper to go with him. She
is hesitant, but when he insists, she agrees.
The next day, when Austin goes to his job, Alan comes up to him and tells him that his
careless attitude is unacceptable. Austin gets fired. Piper goes to her job and finds
out that her boss has to go on tour, possibly to other countries. She doesn’t want to
go, and her boss can see that. So, she lets her go as well. Now, both Piper and Austin
have been fired from their jobs.
After being fired, they both go to meet Austin’s mother for dinner. They make a deal that they
wouldn’t tell Patricia that they got fired. They have dinner with her and Patricia tells
Piper about all of her amazing experiences. Piper is fascinated and shares her own existential
crisis with Austin’s mother. She knows she is a renowned journalist and that she would
definitely have some good advice. Patricia tells her that she has to fight for her dream.
That is a woman’s power. Meanwhile, Austin receives a call from the publishing company,
and he leaves to attend it.
After dinner, Austin and Piper walk side by side through New York. Austin tells her the
publishing company wants him to pitch his series with illustrations in three days. He
says he needs to work hard. Then, Austin takes Piper for some real food because what they
ate at his mother’s home was just salads and they were still hungry. While Piper sits
on a table, drawing, he gets them fries. They fall onto her notebook, and he apologizes,
but then he looks through it. He is pleasantly surprised and impressed at what he sees. The
illustrations are beautiful. He asks Piper to make his book’s illustrations for him.
She resists because she thinks he should get it done by a professional. But he insists
and says this is her calling. She is already a professional. When he praises and encourages
her like this, Piper agrees to do the illustrations for him.
Austin gives Piper his manuscript for her to read, and Piper sits at home reading it
to get inspired to make the illustrations. She receives an email from her new employer
at an art gallery, named Arnold. He arranges to meet him at eleven. Just as she is about
to leave, her parents call. She picks up, and they ask how she’s doing, but mostly
they accuse her of forgetting their anniversary. Piper apologizes and explains to them how
busy she is. They say they understand that she’s busy with her job, but she tells them
that she got fired. They are not happy with this and criticize her. She is sad and asks
them to try to understand, then tells them she has to go.
She goes to the café and meets up with Will and Toby because she is so depressed by her
parent’s attitude. Will explains to him that these things happen, but parents usually
come around when they think you are doing well for yourself. He tells her to be patient
and just keep working hard. Piper thanks them and goes for the interview at the art gallery.
Before she leaves, Piper gives them a small sketch of the coffee shop for them to frame.
Will and Toby thank her, and she goes on her way.
Piper goes to the art gallery and meets up with Arnold where she gets the greeter job.
She is happy, and she goes candle shopping with Austin afterward. They smell different
candles, and Piper likes a particular ‘autumn woods’ scented candle. Austin comes to smell
it, and their faces end up close. Piper quickly snaps out of it and says she should go to
her job because she doesn’t want to be late, but promises to meet him that night. After
she leaves. Austin buys that candle.
Piper goes to the first day of her job. She sees a woman who doesn’t seem to understand
one of the art pieces. She explains the art to her as she sees it and she explains it
so beautifully that the woman immediately wants to buy it. Arnold is impressed with
her and offers her a ten percent commission. She gladly accepts.
Afterward, Austin and Piper work on the illustrations day and night, meeting at different places
and enjoying their time together. They finish the illustrations at her place. As they talk,
sparks fly between them. Austin says he needs to return to his place and Piper walks him
to the door. They stare into each other’s eyes, each one waiting for the other to make
the move. Austin turns shyly and says goodnight to her before he leaves.
Then comes the big day. Piper helps Austin get ready, and he leaves with all the illustrations
and backup cards to meet with the publishers. The publisher loves his pitch, and they are
willing to publish his book. The only problem is, they want another illustrator, one who
is more established. Austin tries to convince them that they should hire Piper, but they
deny it because it is their company’s policy.
They celebrate with Will and Toby and glasses of champagne. Austin reassures Piper by putting
his arm on hers, and both Will and Toby excitedly notice. Piper asks if Austin has told his
mom about the book yet, but he says he’ll tell her when it’s time. Austin encourages
Piper to show her work to her boss because he knows she is not the illustrator for his
book. She happily agrees, not seeing anything off about the whole suggestion. Will and Toby
both leave for the café, and after a bit of talking, so do Austin and Piper.
Piper goes to the gallery and asks Arnold to review a bit of her work and give his professional
opinion. He gladly accepts, and Piper is blissful.
Austin goes home and writes an apology letter to Alan for his behavior and for wasting his
time. There is a knock on his door, and he opens it to see his mother standing on the
other side. She tells him that she visited his office, but found out that he had been
fired because of his careless attitude. She is disappointed, and before Austin can tell
her the good news about his book, she leaves.
Austin doesn’t want to go to the party his mother invited him to, but Piper forces him
to. She says if he apologizes, everything will be okay. He goes in and just as his mother’s
speech ends, he apologizes and tries to give her the good news, but again, she expresses
her disappointment. She says that she was not a good mother to him and that she failed
him. Austin gives up, but Piper stops and tells Patricia about her son’s success.
Still, Patricia doesn’t listen to her.
Disheartened, they both leave the party. Austin says his mom will never see him as who he
is, but Piper ensures him that someday, she will. Piper talks about how both Austin and
she worked hard for the book, he has to tell her the truth and tells her that she will
not be the illustrator for his book series. She is saddened by this and leaves him to
go home. She sits down at a table, and her alarm rings showing that it’s her birthday.
Sadly, she sings herself a happy birthday with tears in her eyes.
The next day, she packs her bags and prepares to leave her apartment. She thinks about knocking
on Austin’s door, but then, she doesn’t and leaves. She meets Will and Toby at the
café and hugs them goodbye. They are sad to see her go and Will asks her to at least
stay for her birthday party. She says it’ll just make it harder to leave. She loads her
luggage into the trunk of the cab and is just about to sit. Suddenly, her expression changes
to one of hope, and she exits the cab and takes out the luggage. She asks Will and Toby
to take care of her stuff, and they are surprised, but they agree to do so.
Meanwhile, Austin goes to Piper’s door and knocks on it. Upon receiving no answer, Austin
leaves the bouquet of flowers that he bought for her at the door.
She leaves and goes to meet Patricia. She asks her what she should do. Patricia told
her to fight for her dreams. But how will she know when the universe is telling her
to fight for her dream, and when it is telling her to give it up? Patricia tells her that
when the door closes, you have to bust it down. Inspired by what Patricia told her,
Piper busts down the door.
She goes to Austin’s publisher, and tells her that she is a really, really good illustrator.
She deserves the job. She told the publisher to look at her work and if she thought it
wasn’t worth it, then Piper would thank her for her time and leave. The publisher
looks at her work one by one and then smiles.
Piper comes back to the café, and Austin tells her that he called his publisher and
told her that they worked hard for the book and that they were a package deal. Then he
tells her that the publisher said it was too late because they had already found an illustrator.
It was Piper. Both of them are happy. Austin asks Piper to stay because she brings a beautiful
color to the city, because the city is magical with her and because among eight million people,
he found her. Piper is ecstatic at his words. They kiss. Toby and Will see this, and they
are happy with themselves and their friends. Austin asks Piper if this means she’s going
to stay. Piper says she has heard that New York is quite beautiful in the winter. Austin
agrees, and they kiss again.
They end up having the birthday party, and Patricia is there. Austin has dedicated his
book to her. She is so happy that she has tears in her eyes. She gives him the pen she
had written her first journal article with and wishes that he writes amazing things with
it. They hug. Will and Toby bring out the cake Toby has made for Piper and she thanks
them.
Austin brings Piper to the side, and they talk about the city. New York was where it
all began for them. They mark it as their first year in New York with a kiss.