After nearly 40 years of marriage, Joan and Joe Castleman (Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce) are a complementary duo. Joe likes to rock, Joan is shy. Joe does not give weight to his clothes, Joan is always smart. Joe is a bit vain, Joan modest. Joe pays his public role to one of the Great American Novels, while Joan shares his intellect, grace and diplomacy with private life, fulfilling himself as the Wife of the Great Writer. It is she who cares for the home, contact with adult children, she remembers Joe taking medicine at a specific time. It's true, there are worse times for her, but her natural dignity and sense of humor allow her to remain hidden in these moments.

1993, Joe learns that his literary achievements will be honored with the literary Nobel Prize. His star flashed when he met Joan in the late 1950s. He was then her (married) teacher.

The film combines the story of a couple with their extraordinary youthful passion and ambitions and a portrait of the same people thirty years later. With all the achievements of compromises, secrets, betrayals, but also an extraordinary mutual love.

On the way to Stockholm, the marriage is accompanied by son David (Max Irons), an aspiring writer who believes that his mother does not appreciate her contribution to her husband's career. And this is not the only guest accompanying this journey. Nathaniel Bone (Christian Slater) is also with them, a journalist working on Castleman's biography - authorized or not.