La La Land

While stuck in Los Angeles traffic, Sebastian "Seb" Wilder, a jazz pianist, has a moment of road rage directed at aspiring actress Mia Dolan. After a hard day at work, Mia's subsequent audition goes awry when the casting director takes a phone call during an emotional scene. That night, her roommates take her to a lavish party in the Hollywood Hills, promising her that someone in the crowd could jump-start her career. After her car is towed, she walks home in disappointment.

During a gig at a restaurant, Seb slips into jazz improvisation, despite the owner's warning to only play traditional Christmas pieces. Mia overhears him playing as she passes by. Moved, she enters the restaurant and observes Seb being fired for his disobedience. As he storms out, Mia attempts to compliment him, but he brushes her off. Months later, she runs into Seb at a party where he plays in a 1980s pop cover band. After the gig, they walk to their cars and lament wasting a lovely night together despite their clear chemistry.

Seb arrives at Mia's workplace, and she shows him around the Warner Bros. backlot, where she works as a barista, while explaining her passion for acting. He takes her to a jazz club, describing his passion for jazz and his desire to open his own club. Seb invites Mia to a screening of Rebel Without a Cause and she accepts, forgetting a date with her boyfriend Greg. Bored with the latter date, she goes to the theater and finds Seb as the film begins. When the screening is interrupted due to a projector malfunction, Seb and Mia spend the rest of the evening together with a romantic visit to the Griffith Observatory.

After more failed auditions, Mia decides, with Seb's encouragement, to write a one-woman play. He begins to perform regularly at a jazz club, and they move in together. Seb's former bandmate Keith invites him to be the keyboardist in his new jazz fusion band, which will give him a steady income. Although dismayed by the band's pop style, Seb signs on after overhearing Mia trying to convince her mother that he is working on his career. The band finds success, but Mia knows the band’s music is not the type of music Seb wants to perform.

During the band's first tour, Seb and Mia have an argument; she accuses him of abandoning his dreams, while he claims that she liked him more when he was unsuccessful. Two weeks later, Seb misses Mia's play due to a photoshoot he had forgotten about. The play does not go as well as planned; few people attend, and Mia overhears dismissive comments about her performance. Unable to forgive him for missing her play and their previous argument, Mia breaks up with Seb and moves back to her hometown of Boulder City, Nevada.

Seb receives a phone call from a prominent casting director who attended Mia's play and invites her to audition for an upcoming film. He drives to Boulder City and persuades her to attend which she reluctantly does. During the audition, Mia is asked simply to tell a story. In response, she sings about how her aunt, a former stage actress who eventually died from alcoholism, inspired her to chase her dreams. Seb, confident the audition was a success, encourages her to devote herself to acting.

Five years later, Mia is a famous actress and married to another man, with whom she has a daughter. One night, the couple stumble upon a jazz bar. Recognizing the logo she had once designed, Mia realizes that Seb has opened his own jazz club. When he notices Mia in the crowd, Seb begins to play their love theme on the piano. A dream sequence unfolds in which the two imagine what might have been had their relationship thrived along with their careers. Seb and Mia acknowledge each other with a silent exchange of smiles before she leaves.