After his wife Maggie passes away Sam Baldwin and his adolescent son Jonah relocate from Chicago to Seattle to escape the grief associated with Maggie`s death. Eighteen months later Sam is still grieving and can`t sleep. Although Jonah misses his mother he wants his father to get a new wife despite Sam having not even contemplated dating again. On Christmas Eve Sam on Jonah`s initiative ends up pouring his heart out on a national radio talk show about his magical and perfect marriage to Maggie and how much he still misses her. Among the many women who hears Sam`s story and falls in love with him solely because of it is Annie Reed a Baltimore based newspaper writer. Annie`s infatuation with Sam`s story and by association Sam himself is despite being already engaged. But Annie`s relationship with her straight-laced fianc� Walter is unlike her dream love life in the movie An Affair to Remember.