Bridget Jones's Diary

Bridget Jones is 32, single, engagingly imperfect, and worried about her weight. She works as a publicity assistant at a publishing company in London where her main focus is fantasising about her womanising boss, Daniel Cleaver. At her parents' New Year's party, Bridget is reintroduced to Mark Darcy, a childhood acquaintance and barrister, the son of her parents' friends. Mark finds Bridget foolish and vulgar, while she thinks he is arrogant and rude. Bridget forms the New Year's resolution to turn her life around, by beginning to keep a diary to chronicle her attempts to quit smoking and drinking, lose weight, and find her "Mr. Right". Bridget and Daniel begin to flirt heavily at work, ahead of an important book launch, at which Bridget's awkward introductory speech unintentionally insults Salman Rushdie and Jeffrey Archer. Adding to her deep embarrassment, Bridget runs into Mark and his sophisticated colleague, Natasha. An amused Daniel rescues Bridget, and the two leave together and start dating. Daniel reveals to Bridget that he and Mark were formerly friends, but their friendship ended when he caught Mark having an affair with his then fiancée. Bridget and Daniel take a mini-break weekend together, during which they are to attend Bridget's family party, announced as a "Tarts and Vicars" costume party. They stay at a country inn where Mark and a disapproving Natasha, who are also staying, watch Bridget and Daniel enjoy themselves reciting bawdy limericks while rowing in a lake. In a moment of passion that night, Bridget declares her love for Daniel, who is evasive. The next morning, Daniel says he must return to London for work, leaving Bridget to attend the costume party alone, dressed as a Playboy Bunny; to her dismay the party theme was changed last minute to normal dress. When Bridget returns to London and drops in on Daniel, she discovers his American colleague, Lara, naked in his flat. Heartbroken, she quits her job; although Daniel urges her to reconsider, she rebuffs him in front of coworkers who cheer her retort. She searches for a new job and ultimately lands a role in television, where she becomes locally infamous for comically bungling human interest reports that endear her to her public. At a friend's dinner party, Bridget again crosses paths with Mark and Natasha. He privately confesses to Bridget that, despite her faults, he likes her "just as she is". Sometime later, he allows Bridget an exclusive TV interview in a landmark legal case which boosts her career and prompts her to see him differently. Mark comes to Bridget's rescue when she vainly attempts to cook a gourmet birthday party dinner, and the two celebrate with Bridget's friends. A drunken Daniel arrives to reclaim Bridget's attention, which prompts Mark to challenge Daniel to a fight in the street. The two men brawl in the street. After Mark knocks Daniel to the ground Bridget chides his behavior and he leaves. After Mark leaves Daniel once again professes his feelings for Bridget but she rejects him. Bridget's mother, Pamela, having left Bridget's father for an affair with a colleague, returns to the Jones family home. She off-handedly reveals that Mark and Daniel's falling-out resulted from Daniel (Mark's best friend since Cambridge University days) having an affair with Mark's now ex-wife, not as Daniel had falsely claimed. At the Darcys' ruby wedding anniversary, Bridget tells Mark that she also likes him for who he is, echoing his prior declaration. To her dismay, she learns during a toast that he and Natasha have accepted jobs in New York and are widely expected to become engaged. Interrupting the toast, Bridget awkwardly makes her distress over the news obvious. Bridget's friends rally to repair her broken heart with a surprise trip to Paris, but as they are about to leave, Mark appears at Bridget's flat declaring the New York trip off. Skipping Paris to stay with Mark, Bridget excuses herself to change in her bedroom. While waiting, Mark reads earlier unflattering opinions of him in her diary, left open on the table, and promptly leaves. Realising what has happened, Bridget runs after him in the snow. Finding him outside a nearby shop, Bridget apologises for what she wrote and says "it's only a diary". Mark reveals he only left to buy her a new one, which he gives her, "to make a fresh start", and they kiss.

Plot from Bridget Jones's DiaryCC BY-SA 4.0