Little City

Little City

Year: 1997

Runtime: 90 mins

Language: English

Director: Roberto Benabib

ComedyRomance

Best friends Adam and Kevin share almost everything—so much that Kevin begins a secret affair with Adam’s girlfriend, Nina. When newcomer Rebecca arrives, the love triangle becomes a tangled quartet. The film humorously explores the chaotic, modern complexities of relationships, showing how love today can be both tangled and wildly entertaining.

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Little City (1997) – Full Plot Summary & Ending Explained

Read the complete plot breakdown of Little City (1997), including all key story events, major twists, and the ending explained in detail. Discover what really happened—and what it all means.

In an AA support group, Kevin talks about how he believed his relationships with women would change once he stopped drinking. He admits that he’s drawn to someone he wants, only to lose interest after he gets her, and he realizes this isn’t a healthy pattern. He’s aware of the flaw but unsure how to break free from it, hoping sobriety might offer a real turning point even as old habits loom large.

In the same town, Rebecca arrives as a single woman and applies for a bartender job at the bar Kevin works at. Kevin’s immediate grab for attention is obvious, but Rebecca sees through his playboy routine and politely rebuffs him. Despite the initial tension, the two form a solid friendship, built on candor and shared nights on the town’s slower streets. Rebecca, for her part, longs to make genuine connections and remains wary of pretenders, even as she keeps an open mind about where new relationships might lead.

Meanwhile, Adam, Kevin’s painter-turned-cab driver friend, starts confiding in Kevin about his romance with Nina and the nagging fear that Nina might be cheating. Adam’s suspicions begin to gnaw at him, and when he tries to initiate intimacy at home, Nina tells him she’s tired. Yet Nina’s fatigue masks a more complex truth: she has just returned from being with her lover, and the emotional stakes are tangled as she navigates love, neglect, and desire.

The tension reaches a quiet crest when Kevin and Nina cross paths in a Catholic church. Kevin explains Adam’s suspicions about Nina’s fidelity, and Nina asks if Adam knows who her lover might be. The revelation follows: Kevin is the man with whom Nina has been sharing a secret, driven by a sense of being neglected by Adam. Both admit guilt over the deception, yet they acknowledge that their bond is hard to resist. Nina also feels that Adam hasn’t fully moved on from his ex, Kate, who left him for a woman named Anne after coming out.

That friction erupts again when Adam confronts Kevin at the bar where Rebecca works. Kevin counters that Adam wasn’t treating Nina well and accuses him of not truly loving her if he hasn’t gotten over his ex. Adam recognizes some truth in Kevin’s claim, but the confrontation ends with anger—Adam shatters a shot glass against the bar’s wall and storms out, a tangible symbol of the strain their friendship bears under the weight of betrayal and longing.

Rebecca, newly in town and feeling unlucky in love, crosses paths with Anne at a coffee shop. Though she doesn’t set out to explore lesbian experiences, Rebecca decides to see what it would be like to be with a woman, hoping it might reignite passion in a way men haven’t. Her first encounter with Anne is interrupted when Kate returns home early after publicly coming out to her parents, catching Rebecca and Anne in bed together. Embarrassed and conflicted, Rebecca chooses not to pursue further contact with Anne and finds herself avoiding the other woman.

Kate is left heartbroken by Anne’s decision to leave her, while Anne herself reveals that she has never really been good at monogamy. The dynamic between Kate and Adam becomes strained as the past resurfaces, and Kate’s own journey of self-discovery takes shape. After a confrontation with Nina about her affair, Adam and Nina break up, and Adam sees a chance to reconnect with Kate—only to find Kate calling him to return to their relationship and to start a family together. He initially resists, claiming the timing is off, but his feelings win out and he ends up breaking things off with Rebecca to pursue a renewed commitment with Kate.

Rebecca, bruised but resilient, senses that Kate’s return to Adam has unsettled her own plans. Kate’s renewed closeness with Adam is tempered by her realization that she is more drawn to women, and she ultimately chooses to stay single for now, focusing on understanding herself rather than slipping into another fixed relationship.

Meanwhile, Nina discovers she is pregnant, but the question of paternity looms large: is the child Kevin’s or Adam’s? The two men are cautious and emotional, with Kevin insisting there is love behind his past missteps, while Nina remains skeptical of his sincerity given his history of walking away. Adam learns of the pregnancy and, along with the uncertainty of who the father is, faces a decision about his future. In a moment of ultimate seriousness, the two men decide to marry Nina, a decision that shocks Adam but is rooted in the recognition of real feeling behind Kevin’s assurances.

The revelation leaves Rebecca to process the cascading effects on her own life. She seeks out Adam and, finding him still wrestling with the fallout, decides to reconnect. Their renewed bond proves to be a stabilizing force as the group’s tangled web continues to evolve. Nina, Kevin, and Adam move forward with the plan to raise the child together, choosing a path that honors love as imperfect but real, while Kate takes time to chart a course for herself, free from expectations and ready to explore her identity.

In the end, the film traces a circle of complicated loyalties and fragile promises that test what people owe each other and what they owe themselves. Love arrives in multiple forms—romantic, platonic, and self-directed—and the characters navigate jealousy, forgiveness, and the hard work of growing up. Through every shift in affection and allegiance, the story asks how much change is possible when the heart is both a compass and a crossroads, and it leaves the door open to new beginnings even as it honors the impact of the past.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 11:17

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