Plot
Katherine Loewe, a highly successful writer, travels to a writer’s retreat in an exotic Moroccan mountain resort to finish her latest literary novel. Though normally prolific, she finds herself struggling due to a falling-out with her partner, a sculptor, who wants her to move out of his idyllic farmhouse home after she has lived with him for fourteen years.
Other guests include the insecure and much younger Lily Kemp, whose debut novel has received critical and financial success, and who has asked her finance manager boyfriend, Owen Brophy, to accompany her.
While older Katherine only wants to find a quiet place to write, Lily enjoys the sociability and the attention she receives from the other writers, especially Rafih Abdo, a fan of hers who urges her to take advantage of the retreat. Owen, meanwhile, finds it difficult to fit in and is distracted by his demanding job, which requires him to take frequent high-pressure phone calls about a real-estate deal in the USA.
After the taps in Katherine's room stop working, she gets lost while searching for drinking water, and meets Owen who helps her find her way back to her room.
The following day, Lily and the other writers opt to stay at the resort to speak to a reporter, while Owen and Katherine take advantage of a pre-planned excursion to a local town. The two spend the afternoon together sharing insights and observations about travel. Their taxi breaks down on the way back, but they are treated by a local family to a home-cooked dinner and recreation, which they both enjoy, despite the inconvenience.
Upon returning, Owen is disappointed that Lily has been using alcohol and hashish with the other writers and refuses to have sex with her; when he tells her he has spent the day with Katherine, Lily is immediately jealous and feels rejected.
Over the next several days, Katherine finds a small utility room to work in and Owen sightsees with Lily, who invites Rafih along to keep her company while Owen takes repeated business calls. Though Owen attempts to make Lily happy by supporting her, he is nonetheless publicly humiliated by her during an evening game of charades and mocked by her for his lack of literary knowledge.
Katherine meets with him afterwards and lifts his spirits by discussing his past successes in sports and commiserating at the difficulty of his job; he, in turn, shares his admiration of her long list of accomplishments, confessing that he "Googled" her, and the two spend the evening sharing personal details.
After Owen contracts food poisoning, Lily leaves him for several days on an extended excursion into the Sahara. Katherine tells him that her sculptor partner want to break up with her because he finds her unbearable while she's writing a novel; Owen encourages her by saying that he appreciates her insight and self-discovery in her process.
After returning, Lily’s drinking and drug use increase, leading her to stumble home several nights, naked and high. After a loud argument about it, Owen drinks heavily and makes a pass at Katherine, which she gently rebuffs, citing their age difference, which he feels insulted by.
The following morning, Lily attempts to reconcile with Owen, but is stymied by a photo texted by Rafih, revealing that the two have been sleeping together. Owen leaves her, then finds Katherine and asks her to join him on a road trip away from the resort.
Katherine and Owen travel together, and become romantically intimate, and he reveals that he has given up his job, which he has increasingly found morally compromising. During a trip to a local beach they both talk about living in Morocco together, but are interrupted when Katherine's laptop containing the only copy of her novel is stolen. Having lost two years' worth of work and angry with herself, she is unable to be comforted by Owen, calls him a “distraction”, and departs immediately for New York.
Several months later, Katherine finishes a different novel and this becomes another success when published the following summer. By coincidence, Owen runs into her at a downtown bar, greeting her warmly before leaving with his friends. Katherine runs after him, confesses that she tried to find him several times but lacked the courage to follow through, and apologizes for that, and for calling him a distraction. She also tells him that her new book was inspired by her encounter with him and that she used her writing as a way to keep him in mind. Owen kisses her.
