Your Place or Mine is a romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher in the lead. They play Debbie and Peter, two best friends who live on opposite sides of America. When they decide to switch homes and lives for a week, the two happen to realize some very important things.
Plot summary
Your Place or Mine opens in 2003 when a young Peter and Debbie meet and hook up. The plot switches to 2023, and it turns out that they are and have been best friends since their first meeting.
Debbie is a single mom who lives in LA with her son Jack and is quite the control freak. She goes about a monotonous routine and loves nothing more than to be an overbearing mother, who forbids her extremely allergic son from doing anything.
Peter, on the other hand, is a New York resident and doesn’t last in a relationship for more than six months. He also keeps moving between clients and has seemingly given up on his dream of becoming a writer.
He is dumped by his girlfriend on his birthday and refuses a permanent job offer. Elsewhere, Debbie is supposed to be in New York for a week owing to an exam for a course she’s been taking online. Peter is ecstatic that at least he’ll get to meet his friend after ages.
Unfortunately, Debbie’s pal Scarlet gets an acting job and cannot watch over Jack while she’s gone. Peter comes to the rescue and suggests that Debbie needs a change of scenery so he’ll fly to LA and look after Jack.
After much convincing and promises, she agrees and they make the switch. Debbie moves into Peter’s luxurious NYC condo and he settles in with Jack.
Peter makes the acquaintance of Debbie’s neighbor Zen, who tends to her garden all day. In New York, Debbie incidentally becomes friends with one of Peter’s exes Minka when she comes to visit his place
In LA, Peter goes off the script with Jack and tries to solve his problems. They watch Alien together and order takeout. He buys private box tickets for an ice hockey game and asks Jack to invite his classmate to impress them.
Sadly, the plan fails as they come to the game but blatantly ignore Jack. Elsewhere, Debbie attends college and then meets Minka for drinks.
They notice a couple of good-looking guys across the room, and Debbie realizes one of them is Theo Martin, the editor of Duncan Press. Being an avid reader and a huge fan of the publication, Debbie is starstruck.
Minka takes the liberty of introducing them and Theo is instantly interested. They have a nice conversation and exchange numbers. Back in Peter’s apartment, Minka casually mentions that he also wrote a book, but never had it published. It is kept wrapped in his oven.
Debbie is shocked that her best friend never mentioned this to her. She reads it and loves it. Wanting to do something nice for Peter, Debbie meets Theo and asks him to go through it in hopes of getting it published.
On the other side of America, Peter decides to make amends and gets Jack a tryout for the school ice hockey team. The kid is talented in the sport but, Debbie never allowed him to play due to fear of injury.
Jack warms up to Peter, and Theo calls Debbie about the book.
Your Place or Mine ending explained in detail:
What is Peter’s secret?
Peter has a small conversation with Zen and apologizes for being rude earlier. The neighbor reveals that he wants to end up with Debbie and tends to her garden for that reason. He also mentions that he’s hooked up with her before.
This triggers a jealous response from Peter. Elsewhere, Debbie meets Theo for dinner, and the two hit it off. They go back to the condo and have sex. Unfortunately, Peter gets a notification from his home cameras and sees them in the act.
He asks Alicia, a mutual friend of his and Debbie’s, to watch over Jack and goes out to meet an ex-girlfriend. He intends to sleep with her too but is unable to.
He then comes back home and tells Alicia that he’s had a thing for Debbie since they hooked up 20 years ago. Sadly, when he tried to tell her a few days later, he saw her with her now ex-husband and decided to let it go.
A little while later, Peter developed a drinking problem and went to rehab. Debbie came to pick him up, and even then, he couldn’t express his feelings because she was pregnant and still married. This is the reason he left LA.
Alicia encourages him to express these feelings now.
What does Debbie find in Peter’s apartment?
Theo agrees to publish the book, and Debbie is ecstatic. After their night together, she rushes for the exam the next day and manages to get it over with. It is her last day in New York, and Theo asks to meet for a drink.
While packing, Debbie discovers a second hidden envelope under Peter’s bed, which contains mementos related to her. She is shocked again because Peter has always been against the idea of mementos.
Minka is with her and finally connects the dots. She explains that this envelope clearly states that Peter has been in love with her since the beginning. That is probably why he could never be with another woman for more than six months.
She also calls out Debbie for being in love with Peter. However, her extra cautious and no-risk-taking nature prevented her from exploring those feelings.
Debbie is still scared and doesn’t want to risk her friendship with Peter. Before Minka can convince her to tell Peter how she feels, she leaves to see Theo.
Do Peter and Debbie end up together?
Peter accompanies Jack to his ice hockey tryouts, and the kid rises to the occasion. He performs well but ends up receiving a knock. Peter still takes him to the hospital as a precaution.
Debbie sees Theo, and he expresses his desire to explore their dynamic further. She confesses that she might be in love with someone else and ends the chapter.
At that moment she receives a call from Peter about Jack’s fall. To no one’s surprise, she completely overreacts and asks to speak to her son. Jack expresses how happy he is and the time spent with Peter was the best of his life. He warns Debbie to not be mad at Peter.
However, she is still mad and asks Peter to leave. She lands in LA and runs into him at the airport. They argue about Jack and say mean things before Debbie confronts him about hiding his feelings.
Peter mentions that he was scared of being rejected, but he is still in love with her. He states that they are not going to be friends anymore and kisses her.
Your Place or Mine ends with Peter moving in with Debbie and Jack. He becomes a published author, and Debbie takes up the editor position with an indie publisher.
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