How I Met Your Mother is the story of Ted Mosby’s life up until he meets his wife, otherwise known as his future children’s mother…hence the name of the show. The first few episodes start with the introductions of all of the main characters, all of Ted’s best friends. This includes: Marshall Eriksen, Lily Aldrin, Barney Stinson, and Robin Scherbatsky.

The story starts off with a bit of a twist when introducing Robin as his kids’ mother, which shocks them, but then he calls her “Aunt Robin,” insinuating that despite the fact that he may share relations with Robin, it will not end the way the viewer might think.

The story has a fairly tame first season, but it’s not without its fair share of comedy. The season starts with Ted’s date with Robin where they go to a restaurant with a blue French horn that Robin takes a liking to. Their date is cut short, but Ted—ever the romantic—goes to Robin’s house with the French horn in tow.

Things don’t exactly go the way he wants when he says “I love you”… on the first date.

After this massive blunder, he then starts trying everything to be with her…ultimately failing until they decide to be friends, but not without their fair share of flings.

This story successfully encapsulates the trials and tribulations of all five main characters. For Ted Mosby, we come along on his entire journey till he gets to his wife. For Robin and Barney, it’s a bit more complex since they both are afraid of getting emotionally attached to a significant other. Robin deals with this by keeping her partner at arms-length, while Barney deals with it by sleeping around and only having one-night-stands.

Marshall’s troubles stem from his job of lawyering, and from him wanting to work as an environmental lawyer and help the environment. He knows it doesn’t pay well and he ends up with a job working for a huge corporation, which causes much internal conflict for him. Lastly, Lily’s dilemma comes when she’s out of college and gets engaged. She soon realizes that she hasn’t experienced the world because she was with the same guy for years. This causes her to make some pretty drastic decisions, some of which include breaking off her engagement.

This show combines a great deal of comedy with some very heartfelt and emotional moments, such as Barney’s plethora of ways to pick up a girl at the bar, Ted’s failures in love, Lily’s contemplations of whether she wants to get married or go for an adventure before she settles down, and even Marshall’s conflict with getting the job he wants or becoming a lawyer for a firm (that he hates) just for the money.

As of now, there is a new show in production that takes this show and flips perspectives: How I Met Your Mother becomes How I Met Your Father starring Hilary Duff.