Riding the success of his star turn in Universal's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," Steve Carell is set to topline "Dan in Real Life," a romantic comedy that Peter Hedges is directing for Touchstone Pictures. Jon Shestack is producing.

The story centers on a widower with three daughters, ages 10-17, who writes a parenting column for a local paper. While on a family reunion on the Jersey shore, he meets a woman he takes a liking to, but upon returning home, he finds out the woman is his brother's girlfriend. He then tries desperately not to fall in love with her while not breaking rules he has set up for himself and his daughters.

"It's about how hard it is to do the right thing but how you have to try anyway," Shestack said. "We're very lucky to have Steve in it. We went to him two months ago, and since then his world has changed. Luckily, Peter and he formed a strong bond. Steve is a wonderful actor and a funny man."

Hedges rewrote the script, which was originally written by Pierce Gardner.

Noah Rosen and Darlene Caamano are exec producing. Brad Epstein is overseeing for the studio.

"Dan" will mark Hedges' first directorial outing since 2003's "Pieces of April," which he also wrote. The CAA-repped Hedges' other credits include "A Map of the World" and "About a Boy," which garnered Oscar nominations for him and co-writers Chris and Paul Weitz.

Carell is repped by Endeavor and Media Four.