Architect Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) and his 8-year-old son Jonah (Ross Malinger) are on their own in Seattle now, after losing wife and mother Maggie Baldwin (Carey Lowell) more than a year ago. On Christmas eve, Jonah phones in to a national radio call-in show hosted by a popular clinical psychologist, to say that his widowed father is lonely and needs a new wife. The host talks to both Jonah and Sam on the air and gets the widower to open up with poignant memories of Maggie.

In Baltimore, journalist Annie Reed (Meg Ryan) is one of the hundreds of listeners who hears and is moved by Sam's radio honesty. But she's already happily engaged to Walter (Bill Pullman), isn't she? Yet when Annie's editorial boss and best friend Becky (Rosie O'Donnell) at The Baltimore Sun encourages her to research and write about the radio show, Annie goes all in. She launches an investigation and even travels to Seattle herself. The trip doesn't quite go as planned, however.

Since this is a Hanks-Ryan movie, we anticipate that the duo will end up together, eventually. The only questions are when and how. There's a possibility of something happening at the top of the Empire State Building in New York City on Valentine's Day, taking a cue from a similar storyline in the classic movie, An Affair to Remember. We'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime, Sam starts dating interior decorator Victoria (Barbara Garrick). He gets support and advice from his sister Suzy (Rita Wilson) and brother-in-law Greg (Victor Garber), as well as from his construction site buddy Jay (Rob Reiner). Jonah befriends a savvy little girl named Jessica (Gaby Hoffmann). And as long as we're talking about cameo appearances: Annie uses her brother Dennis (David Hyde Pierce) as a sounding board about relationships. Dennis makes a snarky quip about Seattle that amusingly foreshadows the actor's then-forthcoming television role in Frasier.

It's also fun to go back to the pre-Google days, when newsrooms and other authorities had sole access to Lexus-Nexus for doing data retrieval by dial-in phone line. Nowadays, most of Annie's questions about Sam could be solved by just tapping through a few links in an internet browser. And we see an early travel agent reservation system, too. As well as lots of landline phones with long twirly cords. Nostalgia.

At its core, this story offers a single concept to debate. Is one perfect person waiting out there for each individual? Someone that they will recognize as soon as they meet? And for whom they will feel "magic"?

The movie also has a stunning soundtrack of moving music contributed by well-known artists.

Sleepless in Seattle is a romantic comedy that is probably considered by some to be a mere chick flick. But if you let yourself go with the flow, the movie may get you thinking about relationships and possibilities ... and the existence of true magic.