Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is a young American woman who works for ''The New Yorker'' as a fact checker. She goes on a pre-honeymoon with her chef fiancé Victor (Gael García Bernal) to Verona, Italy. Victor is unmoved by the romance of Italy and uses his time to research his soon-to-open restaurant, often neglecting Sophie. Sophie discovers that thousands of "letters to Juliet" left in Juliet's Verona courtyard are typically answered by the "Secretaries of Juliet". Sophie asks to join them and accidentally finds an unanswered letter by a Claire Smith from 1957. She answers it and within a week the now elderly Claire Smith (Vanessa Redgrave) arrives in Verona with her handsome barrister grandson Charlie Wyman (Christopher Egan). Claire and Sophie take an instant liking to each other, but Charlie and Sophie do not get along.