影片参加了2010年的圣丹斯电影节，发行版权以480万美元的价格被焦点影业买走，成为了那届圣丹斯上最值钱的电影。 　　妮可（安妮特·贝宁 Annette Bening 饰）和朱尔斯（朱丽安·摩尔Julianne Moore 饰）是一对相伴很久的同性伴侣。并有2个孩子：马上要18岁的乔妮（米娅·华希科沃斯卡 Mia Wasikowska 饰）和15岁的莱塞（乔什·哈切森 Josh Hutcherson 饰）。妮可的医生职业很有压力常常忽视了朱尔斯日子还算太平的过着，直到有一天，莱塞向姐姐建议，他想和那个捐出自己精子的男人见一面。因为姐姐已经到了18岁，她有权利向家里提出这个要求。妮可和和朱尔斯同意了姐弟俩的愿望，他们见到了在生物学上的父亲保罗（马克·鲁弗洛 Mark Ruffalo 饰）。可是见面之后会发生什么呢？这个平静而美满的家庭会因此出现裂缝么？Nic and Jules are in a long term, committed, loving but by no means perfect same-sex relationship. Nic, a physician, needs to wield what she believes is control, whereas Jules, under that control, is less self-assured. During their relationship, Jules has floundered in her "nine to five" life, sometimes trying to start a business - always unsuccessfully - or being the stay-at-home mom. She is currently trying to start a landscape design business. They have two teen-aged children, Joni (conceived by Nic) and Laser (by Jules). Although not exact replicas, each offspring does more closely resemble his/her biological mother in temperament. Joni and Laser are also half-siblings, having the same unknown sperm donor father. Shortly after Joni's eighteenth birthday and shortly before she plans to leave the house and head off to college, Laser, only fifteen and underage to do so, pleads with her to try and contact their sperm donor father. Somewhat reluctantly, she does. He is late thirty-something Paul, a co-op farmer and restaurateur. Despite his seemingly successful businesses, Paul has always shirked responsibility, most specifically in his personal life. After Joni and Laser meet with Paul, Nic and Jules learn what their children have done and, although they don't want Paul infiltrating their lives, want to meet him - especially as Joni and Laser seem to want to maintain some sort of relationship with him. As Paul's relationship with the entire family grows (which includes his hiring Jules to design and construct his backyard), they have an effect on what he wants in life. In turn, he affects their family dynamic as well as each person's relationships outside of it.