An ambitious talent manager, who has vowed to never fall for her boss again, has to use all of her willpower to resist her new one, a charming Mexican telenovela star who arrives in the U.S. to shoot a new show.

SYNOPSIS:

A massive fire is in progress. Everything is total chaos. Easy on the eyes fireman Carlos emerges, ready to answer the call of duty. He saves the life of Adriana, a damsel in distress who is stuck inside a blazing inferno. An ambulance screeches to a halt, and a crowd gathers, as Carlos and Adriana gaze into each other’s eyes, and . . . POOF, the flames go out, and we find out it’s all actually smoke and mirrors. We are on the set of a telenovela. And in the land of Spanish language soap operas, Carlos Ulibarri is “el Rey,” the King.

Carlos usually films in Mexico, and Maria, his ambitious talent manager, has only recently been hired, so the two have only spoken by phone, until the fateful day when Carlos arrives in the United States to shoot the new soap. He opens his dressing room door after the above fire scene, wearing nothing but a towel, to discover that even though she speaks Spanish, Maria Anderson is not Latina. She’s a Gringa of Italian and Swedish descent. Although Maria is immediately attracted to Carlos, she has no intention of becoming just another subject in his kingdom.

HALF AN ORANGE is about finding “su media naranja,” the equivanlent Spanish expression to finding your soul mate, or better half. Carlos seems to have found his in stunning, over the top Caribbean girlfriend Luciana. The telenovela they both star in makes several appearances, as the line between fiction and reality blurs for Maria in her private fantasy world. The line between the two worlds is barely visible for Luciana. For example, exasperated director Hector has to correct her for constantly calling Carlos by his real name instead of his character’s name when they’re shooting a scene.

Maria has escaped to the ocean to flee not only the cold Chicagoland winters, but a broken romance with her last boss. And she has vowed to never make that mistake again. Good luck with that! Maria finds herself irresistibly drawn to Carlos as she gets pulled into his crazy and exciting world of stardom, fans, and paparazzi. She’s totally smitten when his eccentric familia comes to visit, and she sees him in a different light: a warm, family man who cares about his loved ones. It gets really hard for her to keep that vow, especially when it becomes obvious that Carlos cares about her as well. His first audition doesn’t go well and is for the stereotypical Latino tough guy. Maria and his agent Ludmila work on getting him ones for more diverse characters as the story unfolds..

Luciana does her best to nip their romance in the bud, and even uses some tried and true old soap opera tricks to get Maria out of the picture. We’re not saying she goes as far as cutting Maria’s brakes to send her off a cliff, but… a flat tire might get her out of the way. As they learn about each other’s cultures, Carlos and Maria end up not able to resist their mutual attraction, even if Carlos tries to set her up with Andres, his womanizing friend and hammy co-star from Argentina. However, a misunderstanding leads Maria to doubt that Carlos is the gentleman she thought he was. Maria eavesdrops on a rehearsal he has with Adriana (cue “damsel in distress” from the fire scene), and his acting is so truthful that she believes there really is something going on between them in real life. She also overhears a mysterious phone call between him and someone of the female persuasion. During a Quinceañera (sweet fifteen) party for Carlos’s daughter that Maria must help organize, after finding out that he has a daughter (cue the mysterious phone call), the misunderstanding with Adriana gets straightened out. Carlos and Maria finally get Luciana out of their hair after a dramatic catfight takes place between the two women during the party. Afterwards, a family crisis brings them even closer, and Carlos confesses to Maria that she’s his “media naranja.” Maria breaks her vow, and says yes to being his “better” half.