Prologue: (as narrated by Mark Colm who sees his life as a movie) Mark walks along a tree-lined street thinking of how he first knew he was in love with Lorna after hearing her play a piano. A piano drops from the sky threatening to crush him and all action stops. Mark admits that he�s getting ahead of himself in relating his story.
Cut to: reactions from the �focus group� that his been watching Mark�s life and his choices so far. Some disapprove of the affair, depictions of oral sex, and recreational drug use, but most are sympathetic to his situation with the exception of one viewer who �slept through the entire screening.�
�The Art of Loss�:
Phillip, Annie, their 3 kids, Brock, and Danni are all at Mark and Lorna�s for a dinner party. They sit in the living room talking about having children and when Annie asks Lorna if she ever wanted more kids, Mark deflects the question by asking Lorna to play something on the piano. He reminisces about the beginning of his and Lorna�s relationship in college, much to Danni�s chagrin. Later as everyone is leaving, Mark refuses to shake hands and explains that he never does during cold season. Danni and Brock acquiesce to his wish while Annie gives Mark a bug hug [during which her hair gets stuck to his face] and whispers that she is aware of his attraction to Danni.
While getting ready for bed, Lorna congratulates herself for her self-control during the party and confides that she�s trying for their sake. Later during sex, Lorna goes down on Mark at which point he start to imagine himself with neither Lorna, nor Danni, but in a 3-some with Liz and Donna from his birthday party. Mark comes back to reality and realizes that it is nice just being with his wife.
�My genius writers�:
Zach meets with M. and L. and explains about the potential new producer, Ryan, the car wash king, who is interested in the script that wasn�t actually re-written by Zach, but still passed on by the studio. When they arrive for their meeting with Ryan, his assistant Purity, tells them it�s been post-poned. Zach then one-ups the missing producer by telling Purity to reschedule with his assistant when Zach is not too busy to meet with Ryan.
At home, L. asks M. to apologize to Steven for their fight. Later at Steven�s, M. begins to apologize, but acknowledges that his focus group had voiced approval for his punching Steven earlier. Steven taunts M. with insider info on L.�s activities.
�The Birth of Frank Mills�:
Danni and M. sit in her living room getting high and listening to LPs. They reminisce while listening to �Hair� and M. playfully swats Danni�s rump. Danni and M. sing the first few bars of �Frank Mills� (which is interrupted momentarily by the movie crew). They take a Polaroid together and talk about kismet and honesty then decide to just spend time together �making out� but not going further- an intimacy they no longer share with their spouses.
After returning home, L. tells M. that she has made a (research) appointment with a psychic for a scene suggested earlier by Zach.
�A shining example��:
Walt writes �liar� backwards on his parents' closet door while holding a butcher knife in his hand and saying �rail, rail�. M. awakes to stop him, but discovers his own pants are on fire [i.e. �liar, liar, pants on fire�]. M. recounts this �dream� to his therapist [Eric Stoltz in a double-role dressed like Judd Hirsch�s character in �Ordinary People�] as yet another episode of his movie-life and is perplexed by his real-life lack of nightmares or guilt over the affair. The therapist asks him to think back to when things went wrong between him and L. in order to find his answer.
�It was the best of times��:
M. remembers (via home movies) his life with L. and Walt as a family in the early part of their careers. After being unable to conceive again easily, M. and L. have M.�s sperm count checked. While in the clinic, M. is embarrassed to think that the nurses may be laying bets on his virility so he projects them into the room with him where they come on to him while he produces his sample.
M. and L. go to Mexico to celebrate, but L. is rushed to the hospital with ruptured tubes from an ectopic pregnancy. After several hours of waiting, during which M. is followed around by the movie crew, M. explodes and demands to see L. L. tells him about the emergency surgery done after hours of pain with no blood transfusion. She then tells him that she is now sterile.
Back in therapy, M. relates that they dealt with the loss of the child �separately�. The therapist asks if the subsequent separation was related to the miscarriage and asks why M. didn�t take that opportunity to leave L. M. says that he couldn�t imagine life without her and still can�t. The therapist then asks why M. is with Danni.
M. runs into Annie while shopping and she hints that L. is hanging out with Steven again (despite M.�s wishes). M. goes to Steven�s and spies on them arguing. Later, when L. is asleep, M. checks her cell phone log and sees an unfamiliar number. He calls it and gets the answering machine of a man named �Teddy.�
M. and Danni have lunch and D. tells him she has been thinking of him while in bed with her husband.
�Ryan- the car wash millionaire�:
L. and M. and Zach meet with Ryan. Ryan reaches out to shake M.�s hand, leaving him with two cinematic choices, not shake and come off as a racist, or shake and risk the flu. M. shakes his hand. While having a script meeting, Ryan questions the believability of some of the plot points, but L. saves the meeting with a creative suggestion. Later L. begs off on another scheduled appointment and M. goes to the psychic in her place.
The psychic gives M. a reading and M. shows him pics of himself first with L. and then with Danni. The psychic indicates that L. and M. aren�t a good match, but says that Danni knew M. in a previous life and that they are better suited. The psychic also gives an ominous warning about Danni�s future and mentions Florida. The psychic knows nothing about �Teddy�, but insists that if M. takes control of his life it will be �worldwide.�
M. returns home and snacks on ice cream and unbaked cookie dough before hearing L�s attempts to play the piano. M. omits most of what the psychic says when L. asks him about it. L. tells him that she has been diagnosed as having bi-polar disorder. M. reacts with frustration at the news while still making reassuring comments. L. is disappointed by his lack of conviction and strength.
Mark goes for a solitary walk on the same tree-lined street from the beginning of the episode and questions his inability to support Lorna. The piano falls from the sky and crashes to the ground in front of him. He recalls falling in love with Lorna while watching her play the piano and wonders if she�ll ever play again.