This movie is actually divided in scenes and plots with different characters in all of them.
Billy Mack and Joe
With the help of his longtime manager Joe (Gregor Fisher), rock and roll legend Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) records a Christmas variation of The Troggs’ “Love Is All Around”. Although he thinks the record is terrible, Mack promotes the release in the hope it will become the Christmas number one single, which it does. After briefly celebrating his victory at a party hosted by Elton John, Billy goes to Joe’s and comprehends that Joe is in need of affection and suggests that he and Joe celebrate Christmas by getting drunk and watching porn.
Juliet, Peter, and Mark
Juliet (Keira Knightley) and Peter’s (Chiwetel Ejiofor) marriage ceremony is recorded by the best man, Mark (Andrew Lincoln). Although both Juliet and Peter believe that Mark doesn’t like Juliet, it is the contrary really. Mark loves her and is deeply saddened as she marries Peter. When Mark evades Juliet’s requests to see the video he made at the wedding, she pays him a visit. She says she wants them to be friends and, when she finds and watches the wedding video, it turns out to be just close-ups of her. On Christmas Eve, Juliet answers the doorbell to find Mark carrying a boombox playing Christmas songs and large cue cards, on which he has written, without expectation of reciprocation, that he loves her. As he walks away, Juliet runs after him to give him a quick kiss before she runs back inside.
Jamie and Aurélia
Writer Jamie (Colin Firth) is pushed by his girlfriend (Sienna Guillory) to attend Juliet and Peter’s wedding alone, as she is ill. He returns between the ceremony and the reception to check on her and finds out that she is having an affair with his brother. Heartbroken, Jamie withdraws to his French cottage, where he meets Portuguese housekeeper Aurélia (Lúcia Moniz), who does not speak English. Despite their problems in communication, they become attracted to each other. When Jamie returns to England, he realizes he is in love with Aurélia and begins learning Portuguese. He returns to France to find her and ends up walking through town with her father and sister, gathering additional people as they walk to her job at a restaurant. In broken Portuguese, he declares his love for her and proposes. She says yes, as the crowd erupts in applause.
Harry, Karen, and Mia
Harry (Alan Rickman) is the managing director of a design agency. Mia (Heike Makatsch) is his new secretary. Harry is happily married to Karen (Emma Thompson), who stays at home bringing up their children. He becomes increasingly aroused by Mia’s awkward sexual behavior at the office and does nothing to stop her. At the company Christmas party held at Mark’s gallery, Harry not only asks if Mark is Mia’s boyfriend but also dances closely with her. While at the shops, he calls her to find out what she wants for Christmas and ends up almost caught by his wife buying an expensive necklace from the jewelry department thanks to the salesman Rufus (Rowan Atkinson). Later on, Karen discovers the necklace in Harry’s coat pocket and thinks it is a gift for her. When she finds a similarly shaped box under the tree on Christmas Eve, she is heartbroken to find it is a Joni Mitchell CD and realizes that the necklace was meant for someone else. She confronts Harry and asks him what he would do if he were her.
David and Natalie
Karen’s brother, David (Hugh Grant), is the recently elected Prime Minister. Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) is a new member of the household staff at 10 Downing Street. During a meeting with the U.S. President (Billy Bob Thornton), David runs into Natalie and the president makes some weird comments about Natalie’s body to David. Later, David walks in on Natalie serving tea and biscuits to the president, and the President making a move on Natalie. Natalie seems ashamed, but the president has a grin on his face. At the following joint press conference, David makes a statement to the press about the President basically telling him to bugger off. Finding that his relationship with Natalie has become awkward and a distraction, David has her moved to another job. However, he is touched on Christmas Eve when he finds a Christmas card from Natalie telling him that she is his and no one else’s. After a door-to-door search of her street, he comes across Mia, who tells him that Natalie lives next door. The entire family is on their way to a school Christmas play and he offers to drive them so he can talk to her. After Natalie sneaks him in to the school, he runs into his heartbroken sister Karen, who believes he is there for his niece and nephew. As David and Natalie try to keep from being seen and watch the show from backstage, they finally kiss. All their hiding is for nothing, however, as the curtain rises and they are seen kissing by the whole school.
Daniel, Sam, and Joanna
Daniel (Liam Neeson), Karen’s close friend, mourns the recent death of his wife, Joanna, as he tries to care for his stepson Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster). Sam has fallen for a classmate, also named Joanna (Olivia Olson), and, after a discussion with Daniel, he decides to learn to play the drums so that he can accompany her in the big finale for their school’s Christmas show—the same school that Karen and Harry’s children are in. After Sam feels that he missed his chance to make an impression on her, Daniel convinces him that he must try to catch Joanna at the airport, before she returns to the US, and tell her how he feels. Sam runs away from the airport security and catches up with Joanna, who acknowledges him by name and kisses him on the cheek, thereby revealing that she does like him.
Sarah, Karl, and Michael
Sarah (Laura Linney) first appears at Juliet and Peter’s wedding, sitting next to her friend Jamie. She is an American who works at Harry’s graphic design company and has been in love for years with Karl (Rodrigo Santoro). They finally connect at the firm’s Christmas party and he drives her home. As they kiss, Michael, her mentally ill brother, phones from a mental care facility. The evening turns out to be a disaster. Both are working late on Christmas Eve but Karl just wishes her a Merry Christmas. Sarah calls Michael and goes to see him, sharing her Christmas scarf.
Colin, Tony, and the American girls
After unsuccessfully attempting to woo English women, including Mia and Nancy (Julia Davis), the caterer at Juliet and Peter’s wedding, Colin Frissell (Kris Marshall) tells his friend Tony (Abdul Salis) that he plans to go to America, convinced that his Britishness will be an asset. Landing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Colin meets Stacey (Ivana Miličević), Jeannie (January Jones), and Carol-Anne (Elisha Cuthbert), three attractive women who fall for his English accent and invite him to stay at their home, where they are joined by roommate Harriet (Shannon Elizabeth).
John and Judy
John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) are professional stand-ins for films. They meet for the sex scenes in a film for which Tony is a production assistant. John tells Judy that “It is nice to have someone he can just chat to.” While the two are perfectly comfortable being naked and simulating sex on-set, they are shy and shy off-set. Carefully pursuing a relationship, they attend the Christmas pageant (involving David and Natalie, Harry and Karen’s children, Daniel and Sam, etc.) at the local school with John’s brother.
Epilogue
One month later, all of the characters are seen at Heathrow Airport. Billy tells Joe that his Christmas single has spurred a comeback. Juliet, Peter, and Mark meet Jamie and his bride, Aurélia. Karen and the kids greet Harry, but Karen’s reaction shows that they are struggling to move past Mia. Sam greets Joanna, who has returned with her mother from America, and Daniel is joined by his new girlfriend Carol and her son. Newlyweds John and Judy, heading off to their honeymoon, run into Tony, who is waiting for Colin as he returns from America. Colin returns with Harriet and her sister Carla (Denise Richards), who greets Tony with a hug and a kiss. Natalie welcomes David back from his flight in view of the press, indicating that their relationship is now public. These scenes dissolve into footage of actual arrivals at Heathrow.
