Valeri creates worlds with her vivid and full-bodied characters; she uses the dynamics in many of their relationships to illustrate the characters’ sentiments - especially in constructing an overarching, brooding mood throughout the collection [posted March 31, 2004]
When Joel (Jim Carey) discovers that his ex-girlfriend Clementine (Kate Winslet) has undergone an experimental procedure to erase him from her memory, he is emotionally distraught. The pain of her memory wears him down to the point where he desires the same procedure to erase her from his memory. Joel finds Dr. Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson) and has the procedure performed on him, with the help of a few dimwitted assistants played by Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood, and Kirsten Dunst. As Joel unconsciously endures the operation, his memories of Clementine and their time together are gradually deleted from his brain, until he unconsciously decides he does not want to lose these memories. Trapped in the inner workings of his own mind, Joel tries to sneak Clementine into memories that the procedure will bypass.