In England, Iris (Kate Winslet)'s love interest colleague Jasper (Rufus Sewell) was about to marry another colleague. In L.A., Amanda (Cameron Diaz) just broke up with his boyfriend Ethan (Edward Burns) who left with his receptionist. Amanda wanted a vacation and went to a web site for home-swapping. She found Amanda's home and they 2 women decided to make the swap for their holidays. Amanda met Iris's brother Graham (Jude Law) who appeared to have a lot of girlfriends. Amanda and Graham fell in love but they worried about having a long-distance relationship. On the other side of the Atlantic, Iris met Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach) who was a seasoned screenwriter who felt he was too old to be happy. Iris helped Arthur to rediscover himself. At the same time, she met Miles (Jack Black) whose girlfriend Maggie (Shannyn Sossamon), and they started to have feelings for each other, but they also had to face the fact that they live far apart from each other.

The story itself is a creative idea, but it does not sound real to me. Who would want to swap their homes with strangers? When I watched the film, the feeling that the film gave me was that it is a "chick film" (i.e., a girls' film). The dialogs are kind of verbose and feminine, even for the male characters' lines. I did not read the credits before watching the film, and I later found out that I was right. The film is directed and written by Nancy Meyers (of course, a woman). The film is so feminine that it is a bit a turn-off for many guy viewers.