Meryl Streep is Alice Hughes, a demanding well-renowned writer struggling to complete her newest manuscript. Karen (Gemma Chan) is her young new agent. Desperate to discover whether Alice is writing a sequel to her biggest bestseller “You Always. You Never,” Karen engineers a cruise for the writer. See, Alice is being awarded the fictional Footling Prize. But the award ceremony takes place in the UK, and for reasons unknown, she can’t fly. So Karen offers her the seven-day transatlantic cruise aboard the Queen Mary 2, as a way to not only transport her to the UK, but to ascertain the contents of Alice’s manuscript by spying on her. Conversely, Alice sees the trip as a way to reconnect with her scattered-across-the-country college friends.