Lester Burnham is a 42-year-old executive who hates his job, marries a woman with whom he is unhappy now, and engages in morning shower masturbation. Lester's wife, Carolyn, is a neurotic, ambitious real estate salesperson and a fashion maniac who even wears gardening clogs to match her spurning gear. Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley, his lover, live in those areas. Their daughter, Jane, 16, despises her parents and has low self-esteem.
Lester begins his workday in the office when he receives a call from his company’s newly appointed efficiency expert, Brad Dupree. He is asked to write a description of his job and a justification of how significant he is and submit this to keep the position. Lester, who is furious about this, and Lester, who was utterly incensed by this, have a conversation with his wife regarding who is being more dramatic about it. They notice that their newly formed neighborhood has grown next to them. As Carolyn prefers, Lester and his family often eat dinner while listening to elevator music, leaving no option for denial of the music. Lester describes the same office event of the day. His daughter disputes his request, saying that because they hadn't spoken in three months, he shouldn't anticipate a warm response. A young man was filming their talk while it was taking place near their window. The following day, Carolyn starts her business by gazing at Buddy Kane's poster and feeling envious. She then makes the affirmative decision to sell the house now. Yet again, she fails.
The following day, Lester and his wife show up at Jane's school to watch her perform as a cheerleader, which makes Jane feel repulsed by them. Carolyn thinks that by doing these things, she can grow closer to Jane. But Lester is aware that Jane hates both of them. Lester falls in love with Jane's friend Angela during a dance routine at a school basketball game. Angela meets Jane's parents. Jane is irritated by Lester's attempts to flirt with Angela. Red rose petals often appear in his thoughts when he thinks about her sexually. Jane apologizes to Angela for her father. Nonetheless, Angela admits that she enjoys it and is unconcerned about it. That evening, as Jane is making her way home, she observes a young man filming her from a nearby building, which gives her the creeps. She locks the door as she dashes home. Once more, she checks on him from inside and discovers that he has left, which makes her happy and makes her smile at his activities. Lester locates Angela's phone number in Jane's call diary the following day and pings her.
Lester discovers Jane exiting the bathroom as Angela answers the call and says, "Hello," at which point he hastily hangs up and exits. Angela dials Jane's number once more. Jane attends, and she is upset because of her father's actions. Ricky from the neighboring house films everything on videotape. His father invites him to come down for breakfast. His father is a retired US Marine officer, Colonel Frank Fitts, who lives next door with his physically depressed wife, Barbara, and their teenage son, Ricky. Ricky uses a camcorder to record the world around him and keeps videotapes of the recordings in his bedroom. The Fitts family is welcomed by the Burnhams' neighbors, a gay couple named Jim Olmeyer and Jim Berkley. Later, when ranting about the encounter with Ricky, Frank admits his dislike for homophobic people.
The following day at school, Angela tells her friends, including Jane, about her sexual experience. They dismiss Angela as a prostitute as they leave. As soon as they leave, Ricky exits his car, and Jane informs her that he was the one who had been taping her. According to Angela, he is a crazy person who says many bizarre things at random and whose parents previously admitted him to a mental institution. As he gets closer to Jane, Ricky introduces himself as the person who recently moved into the house in her neighborhood. When Jane asks how creepy it was to record a video of her, he responds that he did it out of curiosity. He found her interesting. Ricky gets home and joins when he sees his father watching his military recruitment video and his seemingly numb mother in a catatonic state.
The next day, Carolyn brings Lester to Buddy Kane's real estate convention. She instructs Lester to act happy in their presence. She introduces him to Buddy and smiles as she encourages Lester not to act strange. Lester moves in closer and kisses her while pledging to do what she requests. He moves away from them to get some privacy, whereupon he meets Ricky, a caterer. Lester is given marijuana by Ricky so they can party and get high. Carolyn, in her boozy state, has a private conversation with Buddy Kane. He invites her on a date. She also acknowledges that. Meanwhile, Lester and Ricky became friends. When Ricky's manager discovers him speaking with Lester during work, he threatens to fire him. The fact that Ricky steps forward and resigns from his part-time job inspires Lester to do the same with his work.
Angela has made a trip to Jane's house to spend the night. Before they go to bed, she chooses to meet Jane's father. When Lester, who came home from the party with Carolyn, meets Angela, he is once again transported to an enticing state of her in his mind. Lester hears Angela making fun of Jane for wanting to have sex with her father if he were in better shape. Afterward, he leaves the area discreetly. Jane attempts to pretend to ignore Ricky's actions, but Ricky is recording everything, even her smile, for his actions via the window in his room. Meanwhile, in the store room, Lester gathers his dumbbells and begins a naked workout. Ricky begins to videotape that as well. His father unexpectedly comes to the door and demands a sample of his pee. The following morning, Ricky assured him of his generosity.
Upon his father's departure, he removes the urine sample from the refrigerator and places it in a normal-temperature environment.Once more, Angela seduces Lester in his dreams, entrapping him. He starts masturbating in bed while he is asleep as a result of his dream. He turns, waking Carolyn. When Carolyn inquires, he initially refuses but later explains that because he is a human and has blood coursing through his veins, he gets whacky when he feels horny. He is doing this since she won't be of any use to him in that regard. If you don't stop talking about that, Carolyn warns, she'll get a divorce as soon as possible. Lester contends that since he has always been an ideal husband, she doesn't have an ideal reason for doing so. And then he falls asleep, surprising her with his conversations. The following day, he began to maintain his morning exercise schedule. He starts jogging with both Jims and gathers advice from them on how to look decent while completely naked. Frank is disgusted to see Lester jogging alongside them as they approach his house. In front of his father, Frank, Lester pauses close to Ricky as he gathers marijuana and makes an indirect request to him.
When they entered his house, Frank kept an eye on them. Lester notices the pee sample as they enter and inquires about it. Ricky claims to give his father a drug test every six months, as he undergoes one every six months. "How can he do this after smoking last night?" Lester wonders. Rick reveals that the sample came from one of his clients, who works at a pediatrician's clinic. Next, he exhibits various varieties of marijuana by opening one of his hidden drawers. Surprised, Lester requests the one he had the night before. Upon noticing all the tapes around, he declares how he was able to purchase them all by selling the stuff. Ricky says that his father mulls over the idea of buying those from a catering service. But actually, he dispenses marijuana under the guise of part-time catering jobs.
The same morning, Carolyn discovers Lester exercising and smoking marijuana. She warns him against doing so, but Lester ignores her advice. The day Lester's boss informs him that he will be let go, he resigns from his position. He uses blackmail to get a generous severance package. He expects a salary and benefits for one year. He exits the office with enthusiasm. On the other hand, Buddy Kane, a married competitor in the business, and Carolyn start dating. He reveals that he is divorcing his wife because she disapproves of his workaholic behavior. When he says, "To become successful, one must portray an image of success at all times," Carolyn begins to be inspired by him.
While at school, Ricky finds a dead bird and videos it. He responds that it is beautiful when Jane and Angela inquire about him as they pass by. Ricky is surprised when Jane offers him a bike ride. Ricky says he's able to walk. Thus, Jane chooses to walk the nearly one-mile distance home with him. The following clip shows Kane and Carolyn having sexual relations in a hotel. Cut to Lester, who is cheerfully driving while smoking marijuana. He stops at Mr. Smiley's Burger Restaurant and places his order. As soon as he sees that the counter position is "Now taking applications," he attempts to take the interview. He demonstrates his interest in completing any necessary training.
Kane mentioned that he used to fire guns when he got stressed out as he and Carolyn talked in bed. He advises her to try it. On the other hand, Ricky and Jane are traveling home together. He tells Jane about his admiration for certain things, which led to videotaping. He claims that the homeless woman he taped was fantastic. Because when he records such things, he feels as though God is staring directly at him for a brief moment. If he's careful enough, he can look back at the past and see its beauty. As Jane and Ricky make their way to his house, he takes Jane to meet his mother. He shows his father's gun collection, and, using one of his spare keys, he opens his father's cupboard to reveal a plate bearing a Nazi symbol. This plate was probably acquired during the Third Reich. Then he plays back the most beautiful things he has ever taped. He describes the video in such a way that there is this energy in the air that we can practically hear. In addition, a polythene bag flew away while it was just beginning to snow.
Jane kisses him passionately. She arrives home and has dinner with her parents. Carolyn performs a dramatic act for Lester by abandoning his job as soon as Jane arrives. Lester calmly and indecently explains his reason for leaving. He requested that she pass the asparagus on the table, but she wouldn't listen and kept yelling at him. Jane makes an effort to leave that area. He yells out when he perceives that he is not being treated in the family as if he is real. Following dinner, Carolyn attempts to comfort Jane through a dramatic performance, but when Jane insults her, Carolyn slaps her and flees the room. When Carolyn finally departs, Jane looks in the mirror and finds Ricky recording everything through his window. She moves closer to the window in her room and takes off her clothes while Ricky is filming. Suddenly, Ricky's father walks into the room and beats him severely while asking what he was looking for in his cupboard. Ricky apologizes and addresses his father as "sir." He also admits that he showed his girlfriend, who was staying in the building across from him, his Nazi plate.
After her shooting practice, Carolyn returns the following day. In Front of their house, she discovered a brand-new car. Lester has purchased a 1970 Pontiac Firebird, the car of his dreams. She claims that he should have thought about her before purchasing it. He dismisses. During their time on the couch, he seemed to steadily stoke the romance between them. She immediately cautions him not to spill the beer he is holding after recognizing it in his hand. As soon as he says it's just a couch, she prices it and tries to make a statement.
Lester becomes agitated once more and argues that the couch is simply a piece of furniture and not our lives. He remarks that she has lost her mind, and she leaves. Naked in his home, Ricky records a video of Jane. She borrows the camera from him and captures him asking how he came to be in the mental hospital. He claims that when he was 15 years old, his father saw him smoking marijuana and chose to send him to military school. He was expelled due to his lack of discipline, which sparked a quarrel between him and his father. He then hit Ricky. He claims he snapped at the kid the following day at school when he made fun of his hairdo. He claims that he would have killed that kid if they hadn't managed to pull him off. And he acknowledges that his father committed him to a mental facility for that reason. Now that Ricky has the camera, he begins to question her about her father. Jane describes that her father disgustingly far behind my friend Angela. Jane says that he should spend more time as a caring father rather than running behind Angela.
She claims that although you believe my father to be unharmful, he causes me a lot of psychological pain. She asserts that she wants her father who acts as a role model, rather than a horny geek guy who sprays his shorts. And that’s when Jane Burnham discusses with her boyfriend how her father is lame and should be put out of his misery. And Ricky, who is listening to her, asks if he should kill her father; Jane responds, "Yes." With a genuine smile, he explains that it requires high pay.
After finishing his morning routine, Lester walks to the kitchen, where he meets his wife and daughter. Angela will return home tonight, according to Jane. Jane reveals to him that she feels disgusted by his eagerness to listen to her. Carolyn and Jane decide to drive Ricky to school. Lester tells Ricky to make a call with him when he was supposed to get in the car, which Frank notices. Once Ricky has left, he enters Ricky's room in search of marijuana, but he is unsuccessful. Next, Frank plays a random videotape that Ricky made. He discovers it to be a naked film of Lester exercising late at night in his storage area. The same day that Carolyn and Kane place an order for food at Lester's restaurant, Lester learns of Carolyn's affair. He responds in a smugly contented manner. Buddy calls off the relationship out of concern for an expensive divorce, while Carolyn is both ashamed and disillusioned by her lack of professional achievement.
The following evening, Ricky gets a message alert from Lester asking for marijuana. Ricky makes an excuse and heads to Lester's house, where his father becomes anxious about both of them. Frank peeks out of his window and keeps an eye on them. Frank, who is suspicious of the two men's friendship, incorrectly assumed that they were having sex because of this. Next, Jane returns home with Angela. Lester and Angela meet shortly after she arrives, and when Angela asks about his muscles, he feels encouraged and talks about how much she likes them. Soon later, she makes her way hesitantly to Jane's room.
When Ricky returns home, Frank violently accuses Ricky of prostitution, which he falsely admits to, leading his father to demand that Ricky be expelled. After listening to the radio in the car, Carolyn takes a revolver out of the glove compartment and sits inconsolably in her car. At home, Jane and Angela are debating Jane's flirtation with Lester when Ricky interrupts and invites Jane to travel to New York City with him. Angela tries to stop them and mentions Ricky as a mental case, a psycho, and a freak. Jane yells at her and calls herself a freak too. He describes Angela as plain, dull, and ugly. Jane answers, "Yes." Angela begins yelling at them since she disagrees with that. Frank cautiously approaches Lester before sobbing and giving him an emotional embrace. Frank tries to kiss Lester, who gently corrects him and says he misunderstood.
Angela is found by Lester sitting by herself in the dark. He comforts her by telling her that she's gorgeous and everything but typical. When he inquires about her desires, she replies that she is unsure. When she inquires about his desires, he replies that he has always desired her. He leads her to the couch, where Angela confesses her virginity as he starts to undress her. Lester is stunned to learn that her ostensible experience was a mask for her purity, and he cannot continue. As they express their frustrations, he consoles her. While Lester looks at a family photo, Angela goes to the restroom. At that moment, Lester is shot point-blank in the back of the head by an enigmatic assailant. Jane and Ricky discover Lester's body. In her closet, Carolyn is throwing away her gun and sobbing uncontrollably while hugging some of Lester's clothes. Frank returns home covered in blood while wearing surgical gloves; one of his collection's firearms is stolen.
In his final narration, Lester talks about significant events in his life. He claims that despite passing away, he is content that the earth is still filled with so much beauty.
