Introducing MG MBFGW
Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos is her family's black sheep. Her staunchly proud Greek immigrant parents, Gus and Maria, have raised their daughters to follow their cultural traditions of marriage and motherhood. Her older sister Athena met her family's expectations by marrying young to another Greek and becoming, in Toula's words, "a Greek baby-breeding machine".
Toula, however, is 30 years old, unmarried, and still lives with her parents. She works at Dancing Zorba's, her family's restaurant in Chicago. She longs for an independent life away from the restaurant and her loving, but intrusive family. Frumpy and cynical, she fears her life will never change. One day at the restaurant, Toula notices a handsome customer—Ian Miller—walk in at lunchtime. She tries to chat with Ian as she takes his food order, only to embarrass herself with her social awkwardness. Ian is polite but bewildered by her behavior, and Toula thinks she's lost her chance to get to know him.
In a small step towards independence, Toula wants to take computer classes at a local community college. When Toula approaches her father Gus about the classes, he forbids it, thinking she wants to leave her family. He insists she's "smart enough for a girl", and her goal should be to get married and have children. After some crafty persuasion by his wife, Maria, Gus reluctantly permits Toula to attend classes. As her classes progress, Toula gains self-confidence. She trades her thick glasses for contact lenses and her baggy, drab clothes for flattering, colorful outfits. She updates her hairstyle and learns to apply makeup. With her new computer skills and polished image, Toula asks her Aunt Voula to convince Gus that Toula should work at Voula's travel agency instead of the restaurant.
Toula thrives in her new job, and while she's working at her desk, she sees Ian walking by the travel agency. He notices Toula through the window, not recognizing that she is the same woman who tried to talk to him at Dancing Zorba's. Despite Toula's lingering shyness, they introduce themselves and begin dating. When Ian realizes Toula was the nervous woman at the restaurant, Toula is sure Ian will lose interest. Instead, he loves her even more for who she is, and they become a couple.
Because Ian is not Greek, Toula keeps the relationship secret from her family, but her parents find out when a family friend sees them kissing in a parking lot. As she feared, Gus is angry because Ian is not an ethnic Greek—referring to Ian as a "Xeno"—and both Gus and Maria tell Toula to end the relationship. Toula insists she loves Ian. Her parents try to dissuade her by bringing various Greek bachelors home to meet her, all to no avail.
When Ian proposes to Toula, she happily accepts, but Gus is upset that Ian did not ask him for permission to date Toula, let alone marry her. Hoping to win her parents over, Ian tries to adapt to the family's Greek customs and mannerisms. When Toula informs Ian that they cannot marry in the Greek Orthodox Church unless he converts, she suggests that they elope instead. Ian reminds Toula how important it is to her family to marry in the church. He converts and is baptized, selecting Toula's cousin Nikki as a godparent. Ian's willingness to do this encourages Gus and Maria to gradually accept Ian into the family.
As Toula feared, her numerous well-meaning female relatives take over much of the wedding plans, while the men keep testing Ian. Cousin Nikki selects tacky bridesmaids dresses without Toula's permission; her brother Nick semi-jokingly threatens Ian that he'll kill him if he ever hurts Toula. Other cousins trick Ian into saying inappropriate things in Greek. When Toula invites Ian's quiet, reserved parents to meet her parents at their home, she insists that it be a simple dinner with just the six of them. Toula and Ian arrive to find all of Toula's extended family at the dinner, where they dance and drink for hours. Ian's parents are unaware of Greek culture and are shocked by the family's rambunctiousness.
On the wedding day, Toula is nervous and surrounded by relatives, but the traditional Greek wedding goes perfectly. At the reception, Gus gives a speech accepting Ian and his parents as family. He then presents the newlyweds with a deed to a house. Both Ian and Toula are deeply touched by Gus's generosity. Following the reception, Toula and Ian leave for a honeymoon in Greece, both appreciating the craziness of their Greek family.
An epilogue shows the couple's life six years later. Toula got pregnant "a minute later" after their honeymoon with their daughter Paris. As Ian and Toula are walking Paris from their house to Greek school, Paris asks why she has to go to Greek school. Toula replies that she had to go to Greek school as a child, so Paris will too. But she assures her that when the time comes, she can marry whomever she wants. As they walk, it is revealed that their home is next door to Toula's parents.
