The Adjustment Bureau

The movie opens as we are introduced to David Norris, the "youngest congressman ever" who is running for Senator of New York. He gives a speech about young people being involved in politics.  We find out that he is from a rough part of New York, and that is mom, dad and brother all died before he was an adult.

We skip ahead to election day, and he is losing badly. He goes into the bathroom to practice his concession speech, when he hears a noise in a stall, and out comes Enter Elise (Emily Blunt), who has been hiding in the bathroom after crashing a wedding upstairs in the hotel.

They have an instant connection, some small talk, then kiss.  They are interrupted by another man in the bathroom, and she has to take off in fear of being caught by security.  He goes to make his speech, and being inspired by his conversation with Elise, he goes off the teleprompter and gives a great concession speech that has everyone talking about what a great candidate he will be the next time term.

Months later we see David get on a bus on his way to work and notices Elise on the bus asleep.  She wakes up to him and they have a nice talk.  David gets to work on time, and everyone in the office is frozen.  He doesn't notice their are frozen.  He walks into the conference room as the Adjustment Bureau (a group of men) is doing their thing waving wands around frozen people.  Being surprised at what he is seeing, David runs, but eventually gets caught and they subdue him. He wakes up in a warehouse, where Richardson explains that they are the Adjustment Bureau. They let him know that they are there to make sure everything goes according to plan, and they have a plan for David. The plan was written by the "Chairman", who we may assume is God.  They warn David that if he tells anyone about them, they will "reset" his brain, meaning he will have no memory and no personality.  They also tell him to stay away from Elise.

For three years, David tries to find Elise again, riding the same bus every day. Eventually, he runs into her, and they connect once again. The Bureau uses their powers to try to keep them apart, but David outwits them. They spend some time together, then return to David's house and make love.

Meanwhile, Richardson does some research and notices that, in an earlier version of the plan, David and Elise were supposed to be together. This is why seeming coincidence keeps attracting them together.  The Bureau's higher-ups decide to have Thompson (Terence Stamp) take over the  Adjustment, because he is known to be very effective. He talks to David in the warehouse and says that he can choose to either never see Elise again and become President and let her become a famous dancer, or stay with her and ruin both of their dreams.  The Bureau causes Elise to fall and sprain her ankle, and David realizes that staying with her will cause pain, and so takes her to the hospital, then leaves, intending never to see her again.

Eleven months later, David is running for senator once again.  He sees a notice in the paper that Elise is getting married. He gets in contact with Harry (someone he trust from the Bureau), who teaches him to use the Adjustment Bureau's method of travel (opening doors to anywhere) which only works while they are wearing their special hats, and traveling in the rain.  David finds Elise in the bathroom of the courthouse where she is getting married and tells her about the Bureau. They are chased all across New York, and use the doors to avoid the Bureau. When they get to the Statue of LIberty, David decides to find the Chairman and plead their case to be together. He finds his way to the Bureau headquarters, and once again they are chased around, and are eventually trapped on the roof. Thompson appears, but then Harry relieves him of duty, saying that their love proved to the Chairman that the plan could be changed, and David and Elise can now be together.