A saucy, out-of-the-box young woman, who only dates married men in order to keep the passion burning and evade the heartbreaks of commitment and love -- but who refuses to be a home-wrecker -- meets her nemesis when she falls for a “married” man. A mostly true story.

SYNOPSIS:

UNMARRIED

This is the unique and TRUE story of SCARLETT, a sexy, adventurous, live-for-the-moment woman of 32, who only dates married men. She’s a modern day heitera, a kind of concubine, who becomes a friend and confidante to her lovers and tries to help them keep their lives and marriages together.

Scarlett works at the Sheltering Tree, a soup kitchen, with her colleague, the pro-life and pearl-wearing CAMILLA. Despite their differences on just about everything—especially Scarlett’s love life—they are friends. The Sheltering Tree is the only soup kitchen to serve its “guests” at tables with china and live music. One of Scarlett’s talents is making life’s moments special.

Scarlett says that she dates only married men to keep the magic and the passion burning and so that they can enjoy the best of each other (leaving mundane concerns and problems to the marriage itself). She has two lovers at a time in order to keep from getting overly involved with them. She also sets up rules including: No Overnights, Not Seeing Each Other Two Days in a Row, No Holding Hands or Public Shows of Affection, No Phone Calls or Texts after 5:00 or on Weekends, and No Jealousy.

For seven years, on Tuesdays, she’s been seeing the handsome, chiseled JOHN. Their relationship is erotic, funny, intimate. He confides to her about his job, his daughter ASHLEY, and his difficulties with his passionless wife DAPHNE, and Scarlett gives him advice on making them happy. Rather than considering herself a home-wrecker, she believes (correctly) that she helps keep marriages together.

However, deep-down, what she truly fears is the risk and heartbreak of a real relationship. This is based on traumatic experiences with her own father, a doctor, who walked out on their family to start a new one with a younger woman, leaving pills on the kitchen table so that her mother could take her own life.

One night, Scarlett is out walking her dog Brandy--who poops in front of an outdoor restaurant, There she meets SAM, a charming, attractive man who invites her to sit with him. She pegs him immediately for a married out-of-towner looking for some fun, and they begin a warm and passionate affair. Sam’s a ghost-writer who shows her the many books he has written for famous people. He’s witty, kind, funny as well as a good amateur jazz pianist and aspiring novelist.

During Scarlett and Sam’s trysts, they go picnicking in the park, jamming in a music store, making love in a hotel bathroom and getting caught and fingerprinted. At Sam’s urging, Scarlett even breaks her own rule and holds his hand in public. However, she still insists that he not stay overnight. Whenever Sam’s in the city, he stays at his friend’s apartment and watches his friend's dog Tolstoy. Scarlett and Sam even go out on dates with the two dogs. John telephones during their dates and Sam starts to become jealous. But she reminds him that “No Jealousy” is one of the main conditions.

After a fight with Daphne, John comes over to Scarlett’s for solace. She advises him to buy Daphne lingerie to spice up their sex life. Sam calls and texts during their meeting and John becomes jealous of Sam.

Sam comes to play piano at the Sheltering Tree and meets Camilla, who is impressed by him. A homeless couple RUSS and MARTHA are there. Russ, who used to be a jazz player, compliments Sam on his playing. He confides that he and Martha just got engaged (with a ring he found on the street). Afterwards Scarlett and Sam make wild love in the park during a thunderstorm.

Sam becomes ill and, when Scarlett comes to bring him soup, he shows her pictures of his wife REBECCA and his two children, IAN and EMILY, and reads her a passage from the novel he is writing, inspired by Scarlett.

John and Sam become increasingly jealous of each other. She reminds John “We don’t want to be like a married couple. That’s what takes all the magic out of it!” When Scarlett tells Sam that John is getting jealous, he exclaims that it makes no sense since, after all, John has a wife. Scarlett responds, “When does jealousy ever make any sense?” She then goes on to express her view and the theme of the story: “Love is bigger than any one thing. It doesn’t fit into a box. That’s why it makes everyone so crazy.”

Sam spends Thanksgiving with his family. We discover that Rebecca is not Sam’s wife, but the wife of his brother PAUL and that Ian and Emily are in fact Paul and Rebecca’s children. After serving Thanksgiving dinner at the Sheltering Tree, Scarlett has a lonely dinner at a local diner.

Sam shows Scarlett pictures of his Thanksgiving dinner, still pretending that Rebecca, Ian and Emily are his family. Scarlett confesses that she never had a boyfriend and opens up to Sam, telling him the story of her father. She says that, since then, she has learned she can never count on men. Sam insists that she can always count on him, but she reminds him that it cannot be since he's married.

Out walking her dog, Scarlett is shocked to run into John with Daphne and Ashley. Brandy runs over to John, expecting a treat from him as usual. Scarlett and John anxiously pretend they don’t know each other and Scarlett leaves.

Scarlett returns home, stunned. John comes over unexpectedly, freaked out by the meeting. He gives Scarlett the lingerie he had given Daphne (who rejected it). She puts it on provocatively and they make passionate love. He then tells her that he wants to leave Daphne, whose marriage to him is a sham, and run away with Scarlett. He’s already packed his bags. She considers it for a brief moment but then refuses, telling John that he would never forgive himself for leaving his daughter. (She knows, as her father walked out on them). Also, she will not allow herself to be a home-wrecker. John leaves deflated, but looking forward to their next Tuesday meeting though Scarlett is more hesitant.

Scarlett takes Brandy out for a walk in late at night and is mugged. She goes to the hospital where she learns she has a fractured arm, which is put In a splint. As she has no one to call to come get her, she takes a taxi ride home. When she arrives, she discovers that she lost her keys in the mugging. Again, realizing that she has no one to call, she sleeps on the stoop until dawn.

She sees Sam the next day on a date at the ballet Swan Lake. Afterwards, she asks Sam if she’s the Black Swan and he replies “Yes, and the White Swan too.” They go to his place and make love (with splinted hand). John calls interrupting them, and has an argument with Sam on the phone, each of them angry with and jealous of the other. Afterwards, Scarlett and Sam share a moment of closeness. Sam says that if he had met her earlier, he would have been her boyfriend.

Scarlett goes to a store where she sees Paul and Rebecca along with Ian and Emily. She is shocked to see Paul and Rebecca kiss and takes a photo.

She meets Sam to break the news that his wife and brother are having an affair. He then confesses that Rebecca is not actually his wife, but Paul’s. He admits he doesn’t live out of town, but that his friend’s apartment is actually his, just a few blocks from hers. Scarlett is enraged by his deception. She tells him that everything about him is fake, including his job as a ghost-writer. He counters that he pretended to be married because she said she only goes out with married men. At first it was a lark, but then he truly came to love her. Scarlett exclaims that she could never love someone who lies like that, confirming her mistrust of men. He asks her what difference there is between his lies and those of her lovers who lie to their wives. Incensed, she storms off, calling him an “identify thief” who needs to find his own life.

When the depressed Scarlett informs Camilla of the break-up, Camilla suggests that Sam is everything that Scarlett’s looking for and that she should forgive him for the sin of liking her. Tearfully, Scarlett then confesses her deepest fear: that no man would ever like her enough to have a real relationship. She feels that her lovers are with her for the good times only and would never actually stay with her. Camilla invites her to attend church with her and her husband ALBERT, to which Scarlett reluctantly agrees.

Scarlett feels out of place at church as the minister extols the importance of relationships. On the way out, Albert corners Scarlett and comes on to her. Outraged, she keeps this from Camilla, but it further confirms her view of men.

After working at the soup kitchen, Scarlett spends Christmas alone eating from a doggy-bag. She’s shocked to receive a phone call from Daphne, John’s wife, asking her to meet.

The next day they meet in a hotel lobby. Daphne tells Scarlett that she knows who she is and recognized her at the meeting on the street. She adds that she’s known about her relationship with John for seven years and has often thought about killing Scarlet, “especially on Tuesdays.”

She vents her fury, but says that she never confronted John because she doesn’t understand his wild side and was afraid to lose him. She breaks down crying, noting that John has already packed his bags to leave her. Scarlett assures Daphne that she will never go away with John and promises to stop seeing him. Daphne says, “You two have a fairytale; we have real life” and asks how she could ever keep John happy. Scarlett whispers a secret in her ear. When Daphne asks Scarlett why she doesn’t want to have a serious relationship, Scarlett replies that she’s not cut out for it. Daphne then says that a real relationship comes with risk and requires acceptance and forgiveness “not one time, but a thousand times.” This pierces Scarlett. They part ways, promising to say nothing to John.

In the park, Scarlett meets John, who gives her a Christmas gift. Then she tells him that she wants to end their relationship. Devastated, he insists that he can’t do without her in his life and reminds her that what they have is special—they have love. Scarlett agrees, but says that it’s time to let it go. She urges him to focus more on his family. He then tells her that “Something strange happened. Daphne is getting hotter” (due to the secret Scarlett told her). Scarlett departs, leaving the gift on a bench. She then has a mystical moment in the pine grove, shaking snow on herself and kissing the branches. On the way home, she wistfully sees Sam playing with his dog.

At home, she rearranges her apartment, dumping out unwanted things, although she keeps Sam’s ghost-written book “Do You Believe in Love?” She cuts her hair (by watching a youTube video,) then sits down at a table appointed with candles and flowers, just for herself.

She lies in bed reading Sam’s book. Finally, at 2:00 am, she calls Sam, saying that Brandy misses Tolstoy. He replies that it “sounds like an emergency,” and comes right over, still wearing his pajamas. She tells Sam that she’s stopped seeing John because she needs a fresh start. She adds that she’s finished with married men—real married men. “Unmarried ones are alright.” She invites Sam to stay the night. He says, “I already have my pajamas.”

At the Sheltering Tree, Sam plays a funky “Wedding March” as Russ and Martha get married, presided over by Scarlett as minister. Russ asks Scarlett and Sam when they will get married, but Scarlett says, “We’ve had enough marriages for one day, don’t you think?” To which Sam replies, “I do.” Camilla cuts the cake.