Ike Graham, columnist for USA Today, in desperation for a story, writes a story he hears from a man at a bar. It’s about Maggie Carpenter, from a small Maryland town, who has left three men literally at the altar, running away in her wedding dress. But Ike’s story gets some facts wrong, and he gets fired.

His ex-wife’s husband, who works for GQ, tells him to go find out the facts and write a story for the magazine. At first, Maggie is incensed that Ike is hanging around, interviewing her friends and family. But there’s nothing she can do about it because everyone likes him, including Bob, her current fiancé. Finally Maggie gives in and, for $650, agrees to give Ike an interview and let him follow her around until her wedding. As Ike gets to know Maggie, he realizes that she is always trying to be what she thinks her men want her to be — then she runs away at the altar because she realizes she about to marry a man who doesn’t know her.

Naturally, Ike falls in love with Maggie. And at a wedding rehearsal for Maggie and Bob, Maggie realizes she loves Ike too. Maggie decides to marry him instead of Bob, since she has the dress and the church and all. But when the moment comes, she runs again, jumping onto a Fed-Ex truck while Ike chases her down the street.

Ike returns to New York. Maggie, after taking some time to figure out who she really is and what she really wants, follows and proposes to him. They get married on a hilltop, with no crowd and only her closest friends and family watching from a distance.

It was a pretty goofy plot, but there’s something about Julia Roberts that is appealing. She’s not all that pretty, but she certainly is attractive. Richard Gere is good in his role. There also seemed to be a lack of noticeable foul language or sleeping around.