Unmoored for the first time in ages after his company downsizes, Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks) finds the ground suddenly unstable. He's upside down on his mortgage and doesn't know what to do next. So he buys a second-hand motor scooter, signs up for classes at the local community college, and re-tools himself for this modern, confusing age. His economics professor (George Takei) is brilliant but eccentric; his new pal, Talia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), is a free spirit who wants to make him over. But it's the alluring, unmotivated speech class professor, Mercedes (Julia Roberts), who really knocks Larry off his feet.