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It's the night of her book party -- planned and promoted, of course, by Samanatha (Kim Cattrall), and chief on the mind of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her friends is who will have the honor of being their plus-one's. For Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), who's happy to be back at work, it's Walker Lewis (Robert John Burke), a lover she enjoyed a one-night stand with before having Brady. For Charlotte (Kristin Davis), it's Justin Anderson III, an über-WASP with whom a bout of energetic pre-party nookie is unceremoniously interrupted by none other than Charlotte's eternally meddlesome ex-mother-in-law, Bunny (Frances Sternhagen). Samantha is less concerned with a plus-one than with a chemical peel that leaves her looking like an undercooked hangar steak, while Carrie thinks she might have found the perfect plus-one in Jack Berger (Ron Livingston), a writer she meets while discussing her party with her publisher. Unfortunately, after Carrie invites Berger to the party, he casually reveals he has a girlfriend. The situation leads Carrie to wonder why, despite everything that's going right for her, she allows the one thing that's going wrong for her -- namely, her lack of boyfriend -- to overshadow all that's positive in her life. So she decides to enjoy the party, date or not date, until she spies Berger there without his girlfriend and realizes how lonely she is. Miranda, too, gets something of a wake-up call when, while in the throes of passion with Walker Lewis, Brady's cries bring a halt to their antics and Walker storms out. Miranda is forced to accept the fact she's no longer the same person she was before Brady. On the way home from her party, Carrie realizes -- thanks to her driver's insistence that she has something to celebrate -- how happy she is that, boyfriend or no boyfriend, there are still some guys who can give her a much-needed spark.