The Way We Weren’t

Katie Morosky and Hubbell Gardiner are two college students with starkly different lives. Katie is a staunch Marxist Jew with anti-war beliefs, while Hubbell is carefree and charming. They feel a spark as she admires his looks and his writing, and they share a brief dance at the senior prom before their paths diverge.

Near the end of World War II, Katie and Hubbell meet again in New York City. Katie works multiple jobs while Hubbell returns from the South Pacific as a naval officer. Despite their differences, they fall in love again and pick up where they left off.

After Franklin D. Roosevelt dies, Hubbell's friends disparage Katie's political stance, leaving her livid. She confronts their insensitivity and Hubbell's apparent indifference to it. The quarrel exposes the fault lines in their renewed relationship.

Hubbell grows frustrated by Katie's bluntness and strong opinions and ends their relationship. Yet the couple's feelings endure, and they reconcile later, choosing to continue despite their conflicts.

Hubbell receives an offer to adapt his novel into a screenplay. Katie worries that Hollywood could waste his talent and undermine his integrity. The debate foreshadows the friction that will challenge their marriage.

Despite her misgivings, they move to Malibu where Hubbell signs a studio contract offering an affluent lifestyle. As they unpack, they realize they are already legally married, which ties their relationship to a new, domestic frame.

The Hollywood blacklist grows and McCarthyism closes in. Katie's political activism resurfaces, threatening Hubbell's reputation and livelihood in this climate of fear. The couple feels the pressure of public scrutiny squeezing their private lives.

Katie and others publicly confront the government over personal privacy and free speech. Their activism strains the marriage, and Hubbell grows alienated by Katie's relentless political combativeness. The couple finds themselves pulled in opposite directions by the era's political pressures.

Although Katie is pregnant, Hubbell begins an affair with his former college girlfriend. Katie confronts the reality that Hubbell may not be the man she idealized and will choose the easier path. The personal and political fractures deepen in this period.

Katie gives birth to their daughter, Rachel. The accumulating fractures of their relationship lead to a divorce, leaving them to redefine life separately while still bound by their child.

Years after the divorce, Katie and Hubbell meet by chance in front of the Plaza Hotel in New York City, where Katie is leading a Ban the Bomb demonstration. A taxi interrupts their reunion, and they part with a tender, bittersweet farewell.