On a weekend trip to Hawaii, a plastic surgeon convinces his loyal assistant to pose as his soon-to-be-divorced wife in order to cover up a careless lie he told to his much-younger girlfriend.
Danny (Adam Sandler) must engage Katherine (Jennifer Aniston), his faithful assistant, to pretend to be his soon to be ex-wife. Danny must pretend that he is married, because he lied to his dream girl, Palmer (Brooklyn Decker) the most gorgeous woman in the world. To keep the woman he loves, covering up one lie soon turns into many lies.—Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)
Danny, after getting burned in a previous relationship, decides to avoid commitment by telling every girl he hooks up with that he's married. But when he meets a gorgeous young girl named Palmer, he thinks she could be the one until she finds out he's "married". So in order to keep their relationship still going, he tells her that he and his "wife" are getting a divorce. When she insists on meeting her, he asks Katherine to pose as his wife. Katherine takes a call from one of her children, Palmer assumes that they're Danny's so wants to meet them. And it's at this meeting that Katherine's son tricks Danny into taking them all on a trip to Hawaii..—[email protected]
In 1988, Daniel "Danny" Maccabee (Adam Sandler), a 22-year-old man, leaves his wedding right before the ceremony is about to begin after learning that his fiance is cheating on him, and was only marrying because he was going to be a doctor and provide her with a comfortable lifestyle. He goes to drink alone at a bar, where a young, beautiful woman (Minka Kelly) walks in. She sees that Danny has a wedding ring on his hand and asks him about his wife and he says how she recently left him for someone else, and the woman from the bar ends up sleeping with him.
Twenty-three years later in 2011, Danny (now 45-years old) is now a successful plastic surgeon in Los Angeles who feigns unhappy marriages to get women, and to avoid romantic commitment that may lead to heartbreak. The only woman aware of his schemes is his office manager and best friend Katherine Murphy (Jennifer Aniston), a divorced mother of two. At a party, Danny meets Palmer (Brooklyn Decker), a sixth-grade math teacher, without his wedding ring on, and they have a connection together. The next morning, she finds the ring and assumes he is married. She refuses to date him because her parents divorced due to adultery and does not want to be an adulteress herself.
Instead of telling her the truth, Danny tells her that he is getting divorced from a woman named Devlin, named after Devlin Adams, who Katherine had mentioned was an old college sorority nemesis. Danny tells Palmer that they are getting divorced because she cheated on him with a man named "Dolph Lundgren" (not the actor). Palmer then insists on meeting Devlin. Danny asks Katherine to pose as "Devlin" and they go shopping on Rodeo Drive for new clothes to dress like a trophy wife.
A made-over Katherine/Devlin then meets with Danny and Palmer and gives them her blessing. However, after hearing Katherine talking on the phone with her kids, Palmer assumes that her kids are Danny's as well. Danny then privately meets with Katherine's kids, Maggie (Bailee Madison) and Michael (Griffin Gluck), to get them to play along with the ruse and gives them the aliases of "Kiki Dee" and "Bart" respectively.
Palmer meets the kids, who then blackmail Danny in front of Palmer to take them all to Hawaii. At the airport, they are all surprised by Danny's goofball cousin Eddie (Nick Swardson), who has adopted an Austrian disguise as the "Dolph Lundgren" that Danny had made up earlier. To maintain the lies, Danny and Katherine are forced to bring him along.
At the resort in Hawaii, Danny tells Eddie he is considering asking Palmer to marry him. Katherine and Danny also run into the real-life Devlin Adams (Nicole Kidman) and her husband Ian Maxtone-Jones (Dave Matthews), who allegedly invented the iPod. Because of Katherine and Devlin's long-time rivalry, Katherine introduces Danny as her husband rather than admit she is a single mother.
Later, Palmer decides to spend time with Katherine so that Danny can spend more time with the kids. Danny teaches Michael how to swim, and Katherine and Palmer look on in admiration.
Katherine again runs into Devlin, who invites her and Danny out to dinner. Eddie agrees to take Palmer out to dinner so that Danny can go with Katherine. Since he is supposed to be a sheep salesman, Eddie's cover is nearly blown when he is forced to save the life of an actual sheep who choked on a toy whistle, though he nearly kills the animal in the process. At dinner, Devlin asks Danny and Katherine to tell each other what they admire most about each other, and, as Danny and Katherine talk, they start to feel a connection. Later, when Palmer and Eddie return from their dinner date, Palmer suggests that she and Danny get married now, since a drunken Eddie told her about Danny's plans of engagement. Danny and Katherine are both surprised by her proposition, but Danny ultimately agrees. Danny later calls Katherine regarding his confusion, but Katherine says that she will be taking a job in New York City (which she had mentioned to him earlier) to get a fresh start to her life.
The next day, Palmer confronts Katherine about Danny's feelings for her, which Katherine dismisses. Katherine then runs into Devlin at a bar and admits that she pretended to be married to Danny to avoid embarrassment. Devlin confesses that she is divorcing Ian because he is gay and also that he did not invent the iPod but made his money by suing the Los Angeles Dodgers after getting hit by a foul ball. Katherine confides in Devlin about being in love with Danny, but then Danny shows up behind her saying that he is not marrying Palmer and that he is in love with Katherine. Meanwhile, on the plane ride back to the mainland, Palmer meets a professional tennis player (Andy Roddick) who shares her interests. Sometime later, Danny and Katherine get married.
