- Rachel Hansen: Look, I know you think she was the one, but I don't. Now, I think you're just remembering the good stuff. Next time you look back, I, uh, I really think you should look again.
- Author's Note: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch.
- Narrator: This is a story of boy meets girl. The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey, grew up believing that he'd never truly be happy until the day he met "the one." This belief stemmed from early exposure to sad British pop music and a total misreading of the movie 'The Graduate.' The girl, Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan, did not share this belief. Since the disintegration of her parent's marriage she'd only loved two things. The first was her long dark hair. The second was how easily she could cut it off and not feel a thing. Tom meets Summer on January 8th. He knows almost immediately she is who he has been searching for. This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story.
- Rachel Hansen: Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn't mean she's your soul mate.
- Summer: [Tom is listening to headphones in an elevator with Summer. She notices the music] I love the Smiths.
- Tom: Sorry?
- Summer: I said I love the Smiths.
- Summer: [they stare at each other for a moment] You... You have good taste in music.
- Tom: [repeating after her] You... like the Smiths?
- Summer: [singing] To die by your side, such a heavenly way to die.
- [speaking]
- Summer: I love em.
- Tom: [elevator stops, Summer leaves while Tom remains dumbfounded] Holy shit.
- Narrator: If Tom had learned anything... it was that you can't ascribe great cosmic significance to a simple earthly event. Coincidence, that's all anything ever is, nothing more than coincidence... Tom had finally learned, there are no miracles. There's no such thing as fate, nothing is meant to be. He knew, he was sure of it now.
- Tom: Do you ever do this, you think back on all the times you've had with someone and you just replay it in your head over and over again and you look for those first signs of trouble?
- Tom: It's these cards and the movies and the pop songs, they're to blame for all lies and the heartache, everything.
- Narrator: Most days of the year are unremarkable. They begin and they end with no lasting memory made in between. Most days have no impact on the course of a life.
- Summer: Well, you know, I guess it's 'cause I was sitting in a deli and reading Dorian Gray and a guy comes up to me and asks me about it and... now he's my husband.
- Tom: Yeah. And... So?
- Summer: So, what if I'd gone to the movies? What if I had gone somewhere else for lunch? What if I'd gotten there 10 minutes later? It was, it was meant to be. And... I just kept thinking... Tom was right.
- Tom: No.
- Summer: Yeah, I did.
- [laughs]
- Summer: I did. It just wasn't me that you were right about.
- Tom: Yeah, uh, this is... And Rhoda, no disrespect, but um, this is total shit.
- McKenzie: Tom!
- Tom: "Go for it" "You can do it"? That's not inspirational, that's suicidal. If pickles goes for it right there, that's a dead cat. These are lies. We're liars. Think about it. Why do people buy these things? It's not 'cause they wanna say how they feel. People buy cards 'cause they can't say how they feel or they're afraid too. We provide the service that lets them off the hook. You know what? I say to hell with it. Let's level with America. At least let them speak for themselves! Right? I mean, look! What-What is this? What does it say? "Congratulations on your new baby." Right? How 'bout, "Congratulations on your new baby. Guess that's it for hanging out. Nice knowing you."
- Vance: Sit down, Hansen.
- Tom: How bout this one, with all the pretty hearts on the front? I think I know where this ones going. Yep! "Happy Valentines Day, sweetheart. I love you." That sweet? Ain't love grand? This is exactly what I'm talking about. What does that even mean, "love"? Do you know? Do you? Anybody?
- McKenzie: Tom...
- Tom: If somebody gave me this card, Mr. Vance, I would eat it. It's these cards, and the movies and the pop songs, they're to blame for all the lies and the heartache, everything. We're responsible. *I'm responsible.* I think we do a bad thing here. People should be able to say how they feel, how they really feel, not you know, some words that some stranger put in their mouths. Words like "love"... that don't mean anything. Sorry, I'm sorry. I, uh... I quit. I'm... There's enough bullshit in the world without my help.
- Narrator: As he listened, Tom began to realize that these stories weren't routinely told. These were stories one had to earn. He could feel the wall coming down. He wondered if anyone else had made it this far. Which is why the next six words changed everything.
- Summer: I've never told anybody that before.
- Tom: I guess I'm not just anybody.
- Girl at Interview: Have I seen you before?
- Tom: Me? I don't think so.
- Girl at Interview: Do you ever go to Angelus Plaza?
- Tom: Yes. That's, like, my favorite spot in the city.
- Girl at Interview: Yeah. Okay, except for the parking lots, but...
- Tom: Yeah. I agree.
- Girl at Interview: Yeah, yeah. I think I've seen you there.
- Tom: Really?
- Girl at Interview: Yeah.
- Tom: I haven't seen you.
- Girl at Interview: You must not have been looking...
- Tom: [Montage of Summer] I hate her crooked teeth. I hate her 1960s haircut. I hate her knobby knees. I hate her cockroach-shaped splotch on her neck. I hate the way she smacks her lips before she talks. I hate the way she sounds when she laughs.
- [Fade to black as Swayze's "She's Like the Wind" plays briefly]
- Tom: I HATE THIS SONG!
- Bus Driver: [Open to Tom standing while bus comes to a sudden stop] Son, you need to get off the bus.
- Narrator: Most days of the year are unremarkable. They begin, and they end, with no lasting memories made in between. Most days have no impact on the course of a life. May 23rd was a Wednesday.
- Partygoer: So Tom, what is it that you do?
- Tom: I uh, I write greeting cards.
- Summer: Tom could be a really great architect if he wanted to be.
- Partygoer: That's unusual, I mean, what made you go from one to the other?
- Tom: I guess I just figured, why make something disposable like a building when you can make something that lasts forever, like a greeting card.
- Tom: People should be able to say how they feel - how they really feel - not, you know, some words that some strangers put in their mouths.
- Rachel Hansen: Now look, if it were me, I'd find out now before you show up at her place and, well... She's in bed with Lars from Norway.
- Tom: Who's Lars from Norway?
- Rachel Hansen: Just some guy she met at the gym with Brad Pitt's face and Jesus' abs.
- [last lines]
- Girl at Interview: [the girl at the job interview agrees to meet Tom for coffee afterward] We'll figure it out. My name's Tom.
- Girl at Interview: Nice to meet you.
- [Shakes his hand]
- Girl at Interview: I'm Autumn.
- [Tom looks at the camera in amazement. Film cuts to a title card with a "1" indicating the first day of Tom's relationship with Autumn]
- Summer: We've been like Sid and Nancy for months now.
- Tom: Summer, Sid stabbed Nancy, seven times with a kitchen knife, I mean we have some disagreements but I hardly think I'm Sid Vicious.
- Summer: No, I'm Sid.
- Tom: Oh, so I'm Nancy...
- [Pancakes arrive]
- Summer: Let's just eat and we'll talk about it later. Mmm, that is good, I'm really glad we did this. I love these pancakes... What?
- [Tom gets up and walks away from the table]
- Summer: Tom, don't go! You're still my best friend!
- Narrator: There's only two kinds of people in the world. There's women, and there's men. Summer Finn was a woman. Height, average. Weight, average. Shoe size, slightly above average. For all intents and purposes, Summer Finn was just another girl. Except she wasn't.
- Narrator: For Tom Hansen, this was the night where everything changed. That wall Summer so often hid behind - the wall of distance, of space, of casual - that wall was slowly coming down. For here was Tom, in her world... a place few had been invited to see with their own eyes. And here was Summer, wanting him there. Him, no one else.
- Rachel Hansen: You know, my friends are all in love with you. You know, it's like we said. Plenty of other fish in the sea.
- Tom: [Looks at a group of twelve year old girls who wave at him and giggle] Thanks. But, uh, those are guppies.
- Rachel Hansen: [Chuckles] Yeah.
- Narrator: Tom walked to her apartment, intoxicated by the promise of the evening. He believed that this time his expectations would align with reality...
- Narrator: In 1998, Summer quoted a song by the Scottish band, Belle and Sebastian, in her high school yearbook. "Color my life with the chaos of trouble."
- Tom: This is lies. We are liars. Think about it. Why do people buy cards? It's not because they want to say how they feel. People buy cards because they can't say they feel or are afraid to. And we provide the service that let's them off the hook. You know what? I say to hell with it. Let's level with America. Or at least let them speak for themselves. Right?