Plot: 1949 marks the beginning of the nineteen year (1949 to 1968) unconventional and long distance love affair between Helene Hanff (Anne Bancroft) and Frank P. Doel (Sir Anthony Hopkins). Straightforward Helene is an aspiring New York City-based writer who works as a script editor. She is a voracious reader, especially of non-fiction. Frank is the efficient and knowledgeable head clerk at Marks & Co., a second-hand bookstore located at 84 Charing Cross Road in London. Unable to find the out of print books she wants at New York City bookstores without having to pay an arm and a leg, which she can't afford, she writes to Marks & Co. hoping they can fill her order at reasonable prices. Frank and the bookstore staff are able to provide Helene most of what she wants at more than reasonable prices including shipping. As such, she provides them with standing orders for more and more books. But as time goes on, their correspondence not only deals with Helene's orders, but what is happening in their lives and in the world around them, Frank's, which includes his loving marriage to his wife Nora (Dame Judi Dench) and their two children. Helene dreams one day of being able to travel to London to meet Frank and the other Marks & Co. staff, the people who have been able to fulfill a great need in her life.
Alternative Plot: New York City bibliophile Helene Hanff (Anne Bancroft) writes to the London bookshop Marks & Co in search of some titles she has not been able to turn up locally. Store manager Frank Doel (Anthony Hopkins) responds politely to her chatty letter, and over the course of two decades, a deep, long-distance friendship evolves. Based on Hanff's epistolary memoir and its later two-person stage adaptation, the film version incorporates new characters, including Doel's wife, Nora (Judi Dench).
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