Halley Martin (Mandy Moore) is a 17-year-old high school student who is disillusioned with love after seeing many dysfunctional relationships around her. Her parents are now divorced and her father, Len Martin (Peter Gallagher), a radio talk show host, has a new young girlfriend that the entire family despises. Her mother, Lydia (Allison Janney), is now always alone while her sister, Ashley, is so overwhelmed by her upcoming wedding with Lewis Warsher that she barely exists in the house. The shallowness of all the teens at her school convinces Halley that finding true love is impossible.