Hilary O'Neil, Julia Roberts, is a beautiful, outgoing yet cautious young woman who has little luck in work or love. Having recently parted ways with her boyfriend after catching him cheating, Hilary lives with her eccentric mother, Mrs. O'Neil, Ellen Burstyn. One day, Hilary answers an ad in a newspaper for a nurse, only to be escorted out before the interview starts, a small foreshadowing of how unpredictable life can be.
Victor Geddes, Campbell Scott, is a well-educated, rich, and shy 28-year-old battling leukemia. As his health worsens progressively, and despite his father's protests, Victor hires Hilary to be his live-in caretaker while undergoing a traumatic chemotherapy course. Hilary's first exposure to the harsh side effects of the treatment shakes her confidence, prompting her to learn more about the disease and to stock the kitchen with healthier foods in an effort to help him cope.
Victor is “finished” with his chemotherapy, and he suggests a vacation to the coast. They rent a house by the sea, and Hilary begins to feel that her role as caretaker is fading. Yet their bond deepens as they fall in love and decide to stay, embracing the quieter pace of coast life. Victor does a delicate job hiding his morphine use to dull the pain, a secret that only adds to the tension between hope and fear in their fragile world. During a dinner with a friend they made at the coast, Victor starts behaving aggressively and irrationally. He collapses and is helped to bed. Hilary searches the garbage and finds his used syringes, a discovery that shatters her sense of security. He admits he was not finished with chemotherapy, explaining that he wants quality in life, while Hilary accuses him of lying. She calls his father, who arrives to take him home, but Victor longs to stay for one last Christmas party.
Hilary and Victor reconnect at the party, and he confides that he plans to leave with his father to return to the hospital the following morning. After speaking with Victor's father, who says Victor wants to spend one night alone before leaving, Hilary returns to the house to find Victor packing clothes, ready to run away rather than head back to the hospital. He admits he is afraid of hoping, and in a powerful moment, Hilary tells him she loves him. They decide to go back to the hospital together, choosing to fight for his life with her by his side. The film closes with the two leaving the house, a Klimt painting, Adam and Eve, visible in the window, a quiet symbol of the entwined fate and beauty they have found in each other.
