Muzikal prikazuje ljubezensko zgodbo in zakonsko zvezo med petletnim obdobjem. Mladi, obetavni in nadarjeni judovski pisatelj Jamie Wellerstein (Jeremy Jordan) se tako zaljubi v nadobudno igralko Cathy Hiatt (Anna Kendrick).Muzikal prikazuje ljubezensko zgodbo in zakonsko zvezo med petletnim obdobjem. Mladi, obetavni in nadarjeni judovski pisatelj Jamie Wellerstein (Jeremy Jordan) se tako zaljubi v nadobudno igralko Cathy Hiatt (Anna Kendrick). Njuno romanco skoraj v celoti spremljamo skozi popevke in glasbene točke. Vse njene pesmi se začnejo pri koncu njunega zakona in se časovno pomikajo proti začetku ljubezenske zveze; medtem ko se Jamiejeve pesmi začenjajo na začetku romantičnega odnosa ter vodijo h koncu njunega zakona. Obe pripovedni liniji se združita na sredini te glasbene zgodbe, v trenutku, ko Jamie zaprosi Cathy za roko.
The Last 5 Years by Tony award winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown is a musical deconstruction of a love affair and a marriage taking place over a five year period. Jamie Wellerstein is a young, talented up and coming Jewish novelist who falls in love with Cathy Hiatt, a Shiksa Goddess struggling actress. Their story is told almost entirely through songs using an intercutting time line device; all of Cathy's songs begin at the end of their marriage and move backwards in time to the beginning of their love affair while Jamie's songs start at the beginning of their affair and move forward to the end of their marriage. They meet in the center when Jamie proposes.