Brilliant yet neurotic Nate is a tightly wound ball of phobias until he accidentally unravels when he meets eccentric yet eternally upbeat Marni. As fearful Nate and fearless Marni awkwardly begin their mating dance -- amidst the eclectic craziness of New York -- their relationship's yin and yang somehow match despite a closet-full of obstacles. In fact, free spirit Marni has a "dying clown" quietly living in her apartment's closet (she inherited the homesteading clown who came packaged with the apartment). Bowie -- Nate's friend and co-worker in a vintage record store - offers forceful advice while Marni contends with her sardonic friend Tess, the reluctant and semi-irresponsible nanny across the hall, who might be even closer to the edge than she is. Tolerant and optimistic, Marni finds herself drawn to the endearing Nate despite his obsessive compulsions - and he can't resist her loopy orbit in a quirky relationship straight out of Lewis Carroll's lookingglass.