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This is a downward spiral of a character piece, in which the main characters destroy the relationships binding them together. The first scene establishes their closeness to each other. NICHOLAS is the general manager of a pretentious trattoria in Pasadena in the December of 1999. EDMOND, a waiter losing the love and patience required for his job, rooms with another waitress, MONICA, who's in a stormy relationship with another waiter, ANTHONY. TERRY is another waiter, an unstable recovering alcoholic, trying to stay sober while coping with the news that his new French girlfriend, PAULA, was recently engaged to two men at the same time. LISHELLE, another waitress, is hiding from her roommate, DONNA, the fact that she kissed her boyfriend. The rest of the film intercuts and blends the pressures facing the six friends.

After work, Lishelle comforts Donna, who is upset about the breakup she secretly caused. A week later, Lishelle discovers that Donna has been lying about having a job. Unable to pay their bills, Lishelle is forced to eventually evict her. Preoccupation with the mounting guilt causes Lishelle to crash her car twice in one drive. Her anguish further intensifies when Donna confesses to her how ashamed she felt about her own deception.

After a week of drinking, Terry ends his temporary break from Paula, only to be later dumped when she wrongfully suspects him of cheating. Acting on advice from Nicholas, he wins her back by finally sobering up and resisting the temptation to call her. Paula invites him to come home with her to France for the holidays, but at the airport, he tells her that he thinks they should take a long break so that she can be on her own for a while. Mistaking this for an easy let-down, she warns him that she will now probably rebound to some other guy. In order to secure her happiness and permanent acceptance of his honesty, he attempts suicide.

Over the same time period, Edmond kicks various guests out of the restaurant as his self control gradually deteriorates, including a restaurant owner named GREG. Meanwhile, Nicholas receives frequent updates from his mother about his terminally ill father, eventually hearing that he only has a few days left. The day before he flies home, the stresses with which both he and Edmond are dealing induces a vicious confrontation in front of customers. Upon his arrival at home, Nicholas then lashes out at his mother for not realizing that his father wants to suffer.

Edmond also spends the month comforting Monica through her turbulent struggles with Anthony. However, when Edmond accuses her of selfishness, they get into an argument that results in her moving into her own apartment. Then her conflicts with Anthony escalate until they physically attack each other during an argument on Christmas Eve. They fight during a montage that shows Lishelle letting Donna disappear from her life without ever confessing, Nicholas and his family preparing his father's body for the morgue, and Greg approaching Edmond and apologizing. At the moment Anthony finally subdues Monica, they realize the futility of their struggle for compatibility. He lets her go, and she leaves.

VINCENZO, their tyrannical owner, is making everyone work on Christmas Eve. Throughout the month, Edmond, Nicholas, and Anthony make repeated attempts to persuade him otherwise, but are unsuccessful. And on New Year's Eve, Anthony discovers that Vincenzo has underpaid the entire staff.

In the last scene, at the restaurant, Edmond repeatedly phones Monica, who has quit, to apologize, but she never answers. At the hospital, Terry lies in a coma, Paula at his bedside. Back at the restaurant, Anthony calls Vincenzo to confront him and ends up quitting on the spot. Lishelle can't quit because of her finances, but Edmond convinces her to quit anyway, after suggesting she move in with him. He then brings a check to a couple seated at one of his tables - Greg and his wife. They thank him and wish him a happy New Year. After hearing about Vincenzo, Nicholas tells Lishelle over the phone that he quits, too. He refuses to be put through to Edmond before hanging up. After Anthony and Lishelle leave, Terry dies at the hospital, and a final montage shows all the characters - a second family to each other just a month earlier - fated to live with the loneliness resulting from their weaknesses and unforgiveness. Edmond, shown pouring champagne for his customers, has at least regained control of his temper from the peace he has rediscovered.