Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton) returns to her childhood home in the country after her mother's death, intending to clear out the house and sell it. She is a successful magazine gossip type writer, who was teased when young due to her large nose. Now that she has had a nose job, she appears more sexy.
In this town there is a somewhat famous novelist, a schoolgirl crush of Tamara's, who is hosting a writer's retreat. He neglects his wife and is having an affair. A handyman Andy (Luke Evans) who knew Tamara when they were teens, sees her new look but feels she is now unapproachable because she is attractive. A bratty rock star Ben (Dominic Cooper) comes to the town to get away after his girlfriend hooks up with someone else. This causes a local young fan to cause a lot of hijinks which creates problems for Tamara (such as sending emails where in the original story it was a provacative valentine). Tamara and Ben have an affair, to the dismay of Andy.
The events mostly follow the sequences as in the original film. But, since this is a modern day story, any subtext of subjugating women or a poor girl using her only power, her beauty, is lost. The bite or social commentary is non existent. Andy's love for Tamara is weak and is really based on nothing but physical attraction and loses any connection to the Thomas Hardy story and even in romantic comedy terms it is pretty boring story.
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