Sex and the City examines the significance of loyalty among friends, justifies forgiveness, and confirms the strength of love. The friendship bond among the girls is noteworthy, especially when Carrie is rejected by Mr. Big. He makes it to the wedding reception yet succumbs to fear of failure and decides to turn the car around and leave Carrie dressed in her couture wedding dress without a groom.
The girls act as a tower of strength for Carrie, who becomes disenchanted and lifeless after finding out Big isn’t marrying her. The cellular phone she had when she hears, “I can’t get out of the car,” falls crashing onto the floor as Carrie’s life comes crashing down around her. Carrie is taken away from the somber situation, and placed in a car with Miranda and Charlotte to flee the scene as Samantha stays behind to announce the cancellation of the wedding. Minutes later after leaving the reception, Big frantically realizes he made a Big mistake and asks the driver to head back to the wedding reception. As he frantically looks for Carrie on the streets of New York, Big spots Carrie’s car. Both see each other in disbelief, and Carrie runs out towards Big and repeatedly hits Big over the head with her wedding bouquet as the white flower petals fall crashing onto the streets of New York as if to remind everyone of the fragility of love.
Inconsolable, humiliated and broken hearted Carrie is swept away to Mexico, which was supposed to be her honeymoon destination, by her loyal friends, Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda. As Carrie lies on the bed in total darkness, her friends visit her to console her and feed her spiritless body. They provide her with words of encouragement and kindness and allow her to mourn her loss of love. Forgiveness is the road back to love, yet this lesson isn’t learned by Carrie or Miranda until the end.
Carrie realizes many months later that Big does love her , but she had forgotten to involve him in their wedding plans and failed to comprehend that Big’s love for her is genuine and timeless. He just wants to marry her; he doesn’t care for the lengthy guest list nor the public’s recognition of their marital vows . His love for her is s so much greater; it is transcendental. It is a love great men have written about. And just as Carrie found her true love, Miranda found a man who worships her. However, he slips; he has a one night stand with a woman, and Miranda blames solely him for his mistake. This slip forces Miranda to become introspective. After many months of blaming their marital problems solely on Steve, Miranda begins to take responsibility for their breakup and builds up the strength to forgive Steve for his moment of weakness.
Ironically, Miranda betrays Carrie by not disclosing to her until many months later that she discouraged Big from getting married. Despite Miranda’s betrayal, Carrie finds it in her heart to forgive Miranda and Big. She realizes Miranda didn’t intentionally hurt her and neither did Big. The ending is exceptional and inspiring; Miranda and Carrie learn to forgive, Charlotte relinquishes her fears and embraces happiness, Samantha becomes true to herself, and Carrie, as always, continues to evolve.