Andrea Bern is a thirty-nine-year-old single child-free woman who defies convention as she seeks connection, in All Grown Up. She’s alone, a drinker, a former artist, a shriek in bed, and captain of the sinking ship.
Everyone around her appears to have a completely different idea of what it means to be an adult; her best friend, Indigo, is getting married; her brother who miraculously appears unscathed by their shared tumultuous childhood, and sister-in-law are expecting a baby; her friend Matthew continues to completely devote himself to making dark paintings at the expense of being bankrupt.
But when Andrea’s niece arrives, she is born with a heartbreaking illness, forcing the Berns to reconsider what is truly important. This could bring them closer together or drive them apart.
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Part 1: Main Character of All Grown Up
Andrea Bern
Andrea is a thirty-nine-year-old woman who lives in New York, she attended art school but dropped out and moved in with her brother and his wife. With the help of a friend, she finds an apartment with a view of the Empire State Building in All Grown Up. This inspires her to continue working on her art, painting the view from her window every day.
She got a job in an office that she hates, watching the people around her grow up and start families. Andrea got addicted and was always high on drugs, but she soon quit drugs afterward. One day she woke up and saw a building built near her apartment, obstructing her view of the Empire State Building; Andrea wonders what she is supposed to do with her life now.
Andrea, who is casually seeing a new partner in All Grown Up, is secretly glad that she is never planning to get married and will never have to worry about such things. Andrea and her new boyfriend, Matthew, eventually break up because Matthew is self-conscious about always being broke.
Andrea allows them to drift apart and has a hard time explaining what she really feels for Matthew in therapy. Andrea avoids talking about her personal problems with Indigo because she is divorcing, but she is secretly glad that Indigo is single again and can devote more time to their friendship.
Indigo
Indigo is an old friend of Andrea who lives in Seattle. Indigo got married and had children, in All Grown Up. Indigo has kids and Andrea is always hesitant to go see Indigo’s baby because she doesn’t want to be reminded of the passage of time. She buys the baby presents and visits the new baby. Indigo tells Andrea that she does not have to conform to societal expectations if being single makes her happy.
It got so bad that Indigo had to confide to Andrea that she is having marital problems. Indigo gets divorced from her husband, which surprises Andrea because she had always considered Indigo a model to aspire to.
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Part 2: Main Story of All Grown Up
Andrea has a brother called David, he is a semi-successful musician married to Greta, a magazine editor. David’s first band broke up after Andrea slept with one of the members, but his new band is more successful. Greta gives birth to a daughter, Sigrid, who is terminally ill. Andrea begins to distance herself from her brother when she sees how sad and stressed he is because she isn’t married in All Grown Up.
She had tried several times to start relationships with men of her own age. However, she regularly finds that she is at a different place in her life.
She briefly dates Baron, a divorced man with a daughter, but is annoyed that Baron seems to want a continuation of his married life that Andrea can’t provide. She breaks up with men soon after she starts seeing them because she grows bored or feels pressured by the relationship.
With all the sad events coming into Andrea`s life, one day her mother’s best friend, Betsy, passes away and Andrea attends the funeral. It brings back bad memories of a time she was molested at a family function, in All Grown Up.
Her assailant was one of a number of strange men her mother used to invite to rent-raising dinner parties at their apartment. After the funeral, Andrea tries to talk about the incident with her mother, but her mother just tells Andrea that she should think about getting married so that she can have someone to help her navigate her life.
Andrea already made up her mind to have got into a relationship but she learns Indigo got a divorce from her husband, she couldn’t hold her joy that Indigo is single again and can devote more time to their friendship.
For Andrea, all hope was lost until an actress moves into Andrea’s building and Andrea attempts to strike up a friendship with her. She is rebuffed, until she comes across the actress crying because her boyfriend has broken up with her and Andrea is able to console her.
Andrea realizes that the actress is just another person and wonders if she should go back to making art since it was the only thing that made her happy.
Andrea speaks with her mother and agrees to be there for Matthew, Greta, and their child. Greta confides in Andrea that her relationship with David is over and by extension her relationship with Andrea. Andrea regrets this since she would like her brother and sister-in-law to be able to come together and take care of their child.