Genie Michaels is a thirty-six year old admissions counselor at Thoreau College in Boston. There seems to be something about her that sends off the vibe that she isn't marriage material.

After a four-year relationship with Hugh Spencer, an English professor and author, Hugh proposes on a national television program. Naturally, Genie assumes the proposal is for her - unfortunately it isn't. After four years of constant togetherness, Hugh has found another woman he loves enough to marry.

Talked into The Sleeping Beauty Proposal by her best friend, Patty, Genie decides that since her prince hasn't come, then maybe the next best thing would be to simply pretend he has. Instead of telling everyone that Hugh's proposal wasn't for her, she just acts like it was. That way, when Hugh returns from his book tour in England, he can be a real man and deal with all the questions and explain the mess he's made. Meanwhile, Hugh, in England, is oblivious to the fact that half of the East Coast is under the impression that he is about to tie the knot with long-time girlfriend, Genie Michaels.

Being engaged gives Genie a new lease on life. She's a bit more brazen, confident, and even reckless. There's a new provocative sway in her hips and a smile that lights up her face. "Fake it to make it," as Patty always says. After buying herself a bogus engagement ring, Genie's level of self-confidence accelerates even higher, and she discovers she likes this being engaged gig. Men even pay more attention to her now that she's an engaged woman.

With engagement presents piling up in her office and all this extra attention Genie's getting, she's wondering why she hadn't done this years ago. Through a fake engagement Genie reinvents herself and finds true happiness. But time is running out, and Hugh is due to return from England. Then what? Genie's beginning to think she may have taken this charade a little too far.