How I met your mother

Season One

The story begins in 2005 with Ted (Josh Radnor) as a single, 27-year-old architect living with his two best friends from Wesleyan University, Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), a law student, and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), a kindergarten teacher, who have been dating for almost nine years when Marshall proposes. Their engagement causes Ted to think about marriage and finding his soul mate, much to the disgust of his friend Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris), a womanizer with an unnamed corporate job. Ted begins his search for his perfect mate. He is introduced to the ambitious young reporter Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), when Barney plays the game he invented to introduce Ted to women: "Hi, have you met Ted?" Ted quickly falls for Robin, though she doesn't feel the same as he does.

As the series progresses, Ted begins dating a baker, Victoria, whom he meets at a wedding, causing Robin to become jealous and realize she does have feelings for him. When Victoria moves to Germany for a fellowship, Ted almost cheats on her with Robin. The two then break up, and after a rough patch, he begins to date Robin at last. Meanwhile, Lily begins to wonder if she's missed any opportunities because of her relationship with Marshall, and decides to pursue an art fellowship in San Francisco, breaking up with Marshall in the process.

Season Two
Ted and Robin are finally a couple. The heartbroken Marshall must now go on and try to continue his life without Lily, and begins dating other people. Realizing she is not an artist, Lily returns to New York. She's reunited with Marshall, and the season culminates in their marriage. Barney loses a "slap bet," which permits Marshall to slap him in the face five times at any given time in the future, whenever Marshall chooses, which he has done two times through the course of this season. Ted and Robin decide to just be friends when they realize that they both want different things. It is revealed that Barney has a gay, black brother. They eventually find out that Robin was a Canadian teen pop star in the early 90s.