1951年好莱坞，一切带有左翼观点的电影都深受“麦卡锡事件”影响，被列入所谓的黑名单中，众多无辜的电影人被迫害。刚入行的电影编剧彼得·阿普尔顿（金·凯瑞 Jim Carrey饰）本是好莱坞一位才华横溢的青年剧作家，可生不逢时的他因为一次在大学时的无心之举也被政府列入黑名 单之中。然而他的噩梦并没有结束，失业失恋的彼得在一次车祸中失去了所有的记忆。当彼得被好心人救起，带到一座名叫朗森的小镇时，小镇居民都把他误认成九年前在二战中牺牲的鲁克。而鲁克的父亲哈里（马丁·兰杜饰）更是欣喜若狂。彼得修复了哈里无心经营的电影院，也让他在电影中找到了生活的激情。鲁克原来的女友阿黛尔（劳瑞·霍尔登饰）更与彼得坠入情网。当一切都向着大团圆结局发展的时候，调查员却追踪到小镇，要求彼特立刻出庭。

克里斯汀·韦格饰演的伊莫金曾经是全家乡的“凤凰女”，学校毕业纪恋册上选出的“最有可能成功的女孩”。然而在纽约成为一名剧作家的她却混得很是潦倒，男友也弃她而去。为了挽回男友，她导演了一场“自杀秀”但没有成功，最终被抓进了警局，不得不搬回新泽西的老家，重新回到母亲的监护之下。她的母亲(安妮特·贝宁饰演)性情古怪，赌博成瘾。回到家之后伊莫金发现，在自己的卧室里面住着一个陌生的男人(达伦·克里斯饰演)，而在母亲的床上，同样也躺着一个陌生的男人(马特·狄龙饰演)。经历了这难堪的一切，伊莫金终于明白，她要想把生活重新拉回正轨，必须要学会接受自己的家人并且和过去和解……

After losing his job as a paralegal, Sam Stein suffers a panic attack and stumbles into a job babysitting his psychiatrist's three granddaughters. The girls' mother, Dianne, is an actor whose once-promising career has stalled; she's in a difficult marriage to David, a rock bassist. When David goes abroad on tour, Dianne and Sam discover an easy rapport as well as a shared history of mental illness. Sam joins Dianne's family to babysit for the summer on Martha's Vineyard, and he ends up in a house with the woman he pines for, her husband, the three kids, and all four grandparents, including his psychiatrist.

Filmmaker Richard P. Rogers tried for twenty years to make a documentary about his own life. He died in 2001, leaving the project unfinished, until his widow, acclaimed photographer Susan Meiselas, commissioned his former student Alexander Olch to make a film out of the pieces. Starting in the Hamptons, in the town of Wainscott, the film weaves Rogers' footage into a journey through childhood memories, a less than encouraging mother, a family background of privilege, and Rogers' persistent, dogged attempts to document his own life. Rogers' friend, actor and writer Wallace Shawn, joins in the process, as the film investigates the differences between documentary and fiction, and tells the tragic story of Rogers' life.