Plot
Steve Martin plays Harris K. Telemacher, a TV meteorologist living in Los Angeles. He is in a dead-end relationship with his social-climbing girlfriend Trudi, played by Marilu Henner, and wants to find some meaning and magic in his life. At a luncheon with a group of friends, he meets Sara, a journalist from London played by Victoria Tennant with whom he immediately becomes infatuated. Driving home that night, his car breaks down on the freeway and he pulls over on to the hard shoulder. He comes to realize that a freeway traffic condition sign is displaying messages intended solely for him. The sign offers Harris cryptic advice on his love life throughout the movie. He begins to fall for Sara, but she is conflicted because she has tentatively pledged to reconcile with her ex-husband, Roland, played by Richard E. Grant. Feeling that a relationship with Sara is unlikely, Harris decides to go out with a ditzy blonde named SanDeE*, a wannabe spokesmodel, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, whom he meets at a clothing store. After his first date with SanDeE*, Harris discovers that his girlfriend Trudi has been cheating on him for three years with his agent. The discovery leads him to pursue his romantic interest in Sara. This is complicated by his new relationship with SanDeE* and by Sara's feeling of obligation to her ex-husband. By the story's conclusion, he has successfully wooed Sara - with some encouragement and advice from the freeway sign that displays messages just for him.
Read more about this topic: L.A. Story
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“The plot was most interesting. It belonged to no particular age, people, or country, and was perhaps the more delightful on that account, as nobody’s previous information could afford the remotest glimmering of what would ever come of it.”
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“The plot! The plot! What kind of plot could a poet possibly provide that is not surpassed by the thinking, feeling reader? Form alone is divine.”
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