P.S. 2004

Louise Harrington, Laura Linney, is a 39-year-old divorcée and the Director of Admissions at Columbia University School of the Arts. Her only two close connections are her ex-husband Peter, a Columbia professor, and her lifelong best friend Missy. Her routine is unsettled when an application arrives from F. Scott Feinstadt, Topher Grace, the same name as her high school sweetheart who died in a car crash, and she calls the applicant to arrange an interview because the slides of his work were missing. His voice sounds strangely familiar, prompting Louise to travel upstate to her mother’s home to search for memorabilia of Scott.

When F. Scott finally shows up in her office on Monday, his appearance, mannerisms, and painting style bear a striking resemblance to the man she loved years ago. The uncanny likeness leads Louise to wonder if the young artist might be the reincarnation of her lost love. After she reviews F. Scott’s slides, he hurries out of her office, fearing rejection. Louise pursues him outside and convinces him to do a private interview at her home, where their initial professional exchange gradually blossoms into a private and dangerous attraction.

This affair complicates Louise’s life further, because her relationship with Peter is already strained; over dinner he confesses he is coping with a sex addiction that, unknown to her, plagued their marriage. Peter reveals that he had sex with nearly 100 partners, and claims that Louise’s cluelessness about it practically goaded him to continue. Amid these tensions, Louise also faces pressure from her ne’er-do-well brother Sammy, who remains the favored son in their mother’s eyes, and from her best friend Missy, who stole the original Scott from Louise before his death and now seems intent on pursuing the contemporary version as well, pulling Louise deeper into a web of memory, desire, and moral doubt.