and so it is...

Welcome to the age of un-innocence. No one has breakfast at Tiffany's, and no one has affairs to remember. Instead, we have breakfast at 7AM, and affairs we try to forget as quickly as possible. Self-protection and closing the deal are paramount. Cupid has flown the co-op.

"How the hell did we get into this mess?"

And so we meet Carrie Bradshaw, lifestyle columnist and seemingly cynical single woman. Carrie writes a column called "Sex and the City" for THE NEW YORK STAR. She's New York's relationship expert, even if she does have more questions than answers. Carrie gets material for her column from the romantic troubles of her close friends, each of whom we meet over the course of this episode. We hear her male friends (a.k.a. toxic bachelors) espouse the virtues of "the mid-thirties power flip" and dating for fun, not marriage. We hear her female friends--including Miranda Hobbes Esq., corporate lawyer and Charlotte York, art dealer--discuss the merits of "playing by the rules." It's obvious from the start that the men and women in the city aren't on the same page.

At Miranda's thirtysomething birthday party, Carrie and her friends--Miranda, Charlotte and "New York inspiration" Samantha Jones (a public relations exec who routinely beds sexy, twentysomething men)--vow to stop worrying about finding the perfect male and start having sex like men, "without feeling." At first, Charlotte is shocked that the group is so ready to give up on love. Carrie, meanwhile, promises that when the right guy comes along, they'll all change their tune. Later, Carrie decides to "experiment" with an old flame and meets the enigmatically handsome Mr. Big on the way home.

Later, Carrie helps out her friend, Skipper Johnston, by introducing him to Miranda at Chaos. Although their initial conversation is awkward, Miranda warms up to his general niceness. Meanwhile, Charlotte hits the town with "most eligible bachelor" candidate Truman Capote, but refuses to sleep with him when the date is through. Samantha, however, feels differently. After being rejected by Mr. Big, she falls into the lusty arms of Mr. Capote.

Carrie runs into Mr. Big one last time on her way home. They talk about sex without emotion, as Big gives her a lift in his limo. He's unphased by her jaded attitude when it comes to relationships.

"I get it," Big states. "You've never been in love..."


FINALLY...The end...

And Carrie with her head bowed down whispered into the mouthpiece of the Parisian public phone, "Why do I always do this to me? When someone new comes into my life, I always think of Big."

"I'm the Charlotte in dressing, and the Carrie in heart."