Prologue: The show begins with Harry addressing the audience with the Man and Woman characters sitting in the audience and Louise and Paul standing on opposite sides of the stage. As he begins to speak about where to start, he takes a playbill for a musical called “Paradise” out of his pocket. The stage begins to light up, Harry begins to sing and scat, and the show begins.

Act 1: As September begins, Harry sits in a bar titled Standards while his piano is being tuned. As the Piano Tuner works on his piano, Claire the Florist comes into the bar with yellow flowers. Harry begins to reflect and rejoice about how the yellow flowers match his mood perfectly, because he has met someone (“Swell”). As Harry sings about the new love he has found, Paul enters and begins to celebrate with him. When he asks where they met, Harry tells him she is currently working on a Broadway show called “Paradise”, they met outside of the theatre and her name is Louise.

There is a flashback to the day they meet. Harry is waiting outside of the theatre and asks Louise to sign his playbill. He asks her out to eat but she declines because she has another show to do. She notices the fur on his jacket and asks if he has a dog. He responds he has a dog named Paul and she lint rolls the fur out of his jacket. Harry gives him her number and they part ways.

We return to the bar as Harry leaves Paul for his first date with Louise. They go to an Italian restaurant and talk about their careers. Louise is from Indiana and has always wanted to perform on stage. Harry writes jingles for television commercials, his father was a Broadway conductor, and he plays music at Standards. Louise has never heard of the bar, and he tells her that she must stop in sometime as his brother Paul owns the bar. The waitress comes and asks them if they need anything and calls Louise “Honey” to her delight (“Every Time A Waitress Calls Me Honey”). They share a wonderful moment, and he invites her to Standards to meet Paul the next night.

The following evening, Louise comes to Standards for the first time and Paul fixes her a drink. They talk about how she understudies for someone named Katrina, who used to work at the bar. Harry sees that Louise has come and Paul tells him to play her a song (“Party Hat”).

Harry walks Louise home and while on their walk Harry introduces him to his dog Paul. They say goodnight and both Paul the dog and Harry are smitten with Louise.

It is now October in the city. Louise, and her friend Dottie are still performing in Paradise. Dottie asks Louise how it’s going with Harry and she responds that it’s going extremely well. Harry is at the performance and only watches Louise throughout the show (“I Only See Louise”). Elsewhere, a man named Felix is calling Harry about how his deadline for a jingle for a new commercial is late. Louise comes to meet Harry at the stage door and he gifts her a pair of earrings, but her ears are not pierced. He invites her to Standards that evening.

Louise arrives at Standards and Paul fixes her a drink, a girl named Sara introduces herself and it is revealed that she used to date Harry. Paul gives Louise a coaster to give to Harry and Harry invites Louise on stage to sing with him and they spend the night together for the first time (“Manhattan”).

The next morning, they take Paul the Dog for a walk and Louise tries to convince Harry to write his own musical. They stop at a café and the clerk is rude to them and gets their order wrong. Louise brushes it off as he is just having a bad day and tells Harry to do the same.

It is now November and Felix calls again with another commercial jingle request called Pinatas for Dogs. He also gets a voicemail from Paul reminding him about band practice and asking for a small loan. Instead of working on the commercial or calling Paul back, Harry calls Louise and tells her to come over to distract him (“Bottle of Wine”).

The next morning Louise is woken up by Paul the dog to find that she is late for rehearsal, which began an hour ago. Harry forgot to set an alarm. She leaves in a rush and upset, remarking how she shouldn’t have come over the night before. Harry then heads to Standards and asks Paul to call Katrina and tell her to skip a performance so Louise can go on. Katrina calls out and Louise goes on as the lead (“Suspended”).

Paul and Harry go backstage and reveal to Louise that Hary was the one who requested that Katrina called out. Louise is upset, angry, and distraught. Harry says that he did it as a way of apologizing for not setting the alarm. Paul steps in to apologize and she tells him that its not his fault, its Harry’s. She storms away and Harry storms away in the other direction.

In the following days, Paul visits Harry’s apartment. It is an absolute mess. Paul The Dog is panting with thirst and hasn’t been out in days. Harry has only been feeding him human food and Paul is concerned. He makes him go outside and to Standards with him. Harry tells Paul that Louise has disappeared. Paul gives Harry’s dog some water and he laps it up immediately. Harry asks Paul to make him a drink and Paul declines. Harry makes it himself and tells Paul that he should be grateful because he finances the bar. Paul finally confronts Harry and tells him he is a drunk and he keeps pulling him back from the edge. Harry tells Paul its because he constantly stuck up for Paul in high school, and Paul responds with the fact that he also keeps making the same excuse. Harry keeps trying to drink and Paul knocks it out of his hand, cutting him. Harry storms out of the bar with Paul The Dog.

Louise takes a walk in the snow (“No Good For Me”) and ends up at Standards. She and Paul talk and he tells her that he and Harry aren’t brothers by blood and that Paul’s family took Harry in after his biological dad started to get belligerently drunk more often. Louise and Paul talk about how his friend Michael does not come to the bar but that they should have dinner with him sometime. At the same time, Harry is drinking in his apartment and decides to pour the liquor down the drain. Paul and Louise share a dance.

Act 2: Harry comes into Standards and Paul tells him he won’t serve him a drink. Harry responds and says he’s not drinking. Louise stops by to say hello to Paul. (“Grenadine”). Outside the bar after it closes, Paul encourages harry to keep it up. Harry apologizes to Louise about the understudy trick, and she accepts his apology. She asks if he has anything to tell her and he says no and that its under control. He invites her over and she says no and walks the other way.

Louise and her friend Dottie are in their dressing room and Louise is frustrated because she does not believe herself in the lead role. Harry stops by the theatre with Paul the Dog to bring her candy. Louise begins to tell Harry she doesn’t know if she belongs on stage and she doesn’t believe in herself. Harry tells her she needs to get out of her own head. He talks to her about his life as a child and they declare their love for each other. They eat licorice together and Louise takes a piece of red licorise and Harry takes a piece of black. He offers her some and she says she doesn’t trust people who eat Black licorice. (“Every Moon”).

Harry takes Paul the Dog on a walk and they stop at the same café with the same rude cashier. He gives a croissant to Paul the Dog and Louise calls him in the middle of the show. She tells Harry that she met a producer for her show and she wants them to meet each other about Harry’s music. She set up a meeting for the afternoon and tells him to show up.

Harry walks into a bar with Paul the Dog to get him some water. Paul passes out outside and Harry calls Louise and Paul. Harry almost gets himself a drink but Paul and Louise both stop him. Harry tells them that the vet instructed them to make a decision. Harry wishes that Paul the Dog could just tell them what he wants (“Say Something Paul”).

At the vet, Harry stumbles in with a bottle inside a brown paper bag. It is time to put Paul the Dog down and Harry is distraught. He tells Paul and Louise to go without him. He whispers something to Paul the Dog. Paul the Dog responds with “I LOVE YOU”.

After the trip to the vet, Harry gets drunk. Louise is extremely worried and Paul chastises her for coddling him, saying that he has been here before. Paul yells at Harry and how he is drunk and Louise fights with Paul to stop being so cruel. Louise and Paul turn on each other for the way they both want to treat Harry in this situation. Paul tells her that he has been dealing with this for 20 years, and Louise says their relationship is different. Paul tells Louise that she can’t save Paul from alcohol just like she couldn’t save her dad. Louise then blames Paul for serving him alcohol at Standards. Harry says it’s because he pays Paul’s bills and Paul storms off. Louise tries to help Harry, but he erupts on her, telling her she has low self-worth. She tells him that the one soul who truly showed up for him – Paul the Dog – never showed up for him in return. She then gets a call asking if she can go on for the lead in her show that night. She accepts.

That night she is in her dressing room talking to Dottie and telling her that Harry is an addict. Harry is trying to call her and remorsefully tells her that this isn’t him. Dottie tells her that she doesn’t need to fix him because that is not her job. Her job is to go out on stage. She goes out on stage as her character Lilly and is perfect in the role (“Paradise”).

It is now New Year’s Eve and Harry is passed out in his apartment with liquor bottles all over the room. He gets a call from Felix and doesn’t answer. Paul enters his apartment and tells him he needs to get up. Paul asks Harry if he has heard from Louise and Harry responds that his agent dropped him. Paul tells harry he is going to sell the bar and that he and his friend Michael are going to open a restaurant together outside of the city. Harry and Paul reminisce about their dad taking them to the orchestra and Paul asks Harry why he would drink and continue a pattern when he saw what his biological dad went through. Paul gives Harry back his keys and leaves with Michael, who is revealed to be not only his friend, but his romantic partner. (“New Year’s Eve”).

Three years pass and Louise becomes a big star and Paul and Michael leave New York City and get married. Three years later, Harry runs into Louise. She is pregnant. She tells him that she and her husband are planning on leaving the city. She asks him why she didn’t see him at Michael and Paul’s wedding. Harry wasn’t invited. Louise gives him the Playbill with his phone number on it and he gives her a script. He tries to apologize to her and she apologizes to him too. (“The Kettle Song”).

It is revealed that this entire story has been Harry telling his story at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. The people of the meeting tell him to keep coming back. He promises to do so.

As he leaves, a stray dog finds him and he takes her home.