Happiness tells the story of several families and how they interact with one another. The movie begins with a break up scene between Joy (Jane Adams) and Andy (Jon Lovitz). You then learn about her dysfunctional relationship with her sister Trish (Cynthia Stevenson). Trish appears to have the perfect family but her husband Bill (Dylan Baker) is actually a pedophile. Their other sister Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle) is involved with an illicit phone sexual affair with Allen (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) whom she does not know is her next door neighbor.