In San Francisco in 1981, Chris is trying to survive as a salesman of portable bone density scanners. Every morning he drops his son Junior at the daycare and visits as many hospitals in the city as possible to sell the scanners. Unfortunately they’re pretty hard to sell because they’re unnecessary and expensive.
When he takes the bus, he often bumps into a crazy hobo that calls the scanner a “time machine”. Sometimes Chris needs to stay out for longer to try to make a sale, so those times he asks his wife Linda to pick up their son. This always irritates her because she often works double shifts to support the whole family.
One night during dinner, Chris finds a Rubik’s cube, which is the latest trend and a gift from a friend of Linda’s. She asks Chris if he paid the taxes, but Chris is going to file an extension, frustrating his wife even more. That night Chris plays with the cube and solves it incredibly quickly.
The next morning, while Chris is on his daily sale walk, he finds a man stepping out from a very fancy sports car. Chris asks him what he does for a living, and the man replies he is a stockbroker. Chris thinks people had to go to college to get that job, but the man says it’s not necessary, they just need to be good with numbers and people.
Seeing how happy employees that work in that firm are, Chris thinks he wants that life for himself as well. The next morning, Chris tells Linda that he would be late in the evening because he will stop at an office to apply as a stockbroker. Linda finds it ridiculous and makes fun of his unrealistic dream, and in turn Chris tells her not to talk to him like that, triggering an argument that ends when Linda reminds him they have two months of rent to pay.
Sometime later, Chris makes his way to a brokerage firm to apply for a job. This firm takes 20 people every six months, but only one gets the job. Wanting to look decent, he leaves the scanner to a hippie girl singing on the street, giving her some money to look out for it.
Once inside, Chris starts hearing the details of the job and gets the application, but suddenly he notices through the window that the girl is running away with the scanner. Application in hand, Chris immediately leaves and begins chasing her through the city and the station, but the girl escapes by getting into a train. The next day, Chris promises Linda he’ll sell the scanner so they don’t see it anymore, however first he heads to the firm to leave the filled-up application.
He makes sure to personally deliver it to resource department manager Jay so he can tell him a bit about himself and cause a good impression, but Jay is in a hurry and promises to call later. Afterward, Chris sees the hippie girl and her partner passing by with the scanner. Furious, he begins chasing them as it’s revealed that he has spent his entire life savings on those scanners.
It’s supposed to be a revolutionary machine but he was not aware that doctors and hospitals would consider them unnecessary luxuries. For Chris, losing a scanner is like losing one month of groceries. After lots of running, Chris manages to corner the couple in the bus and takes the scanner back.
This means that when he returns home, instead of having sold the scanner he had, now he has two. Linda finds this very disappointing but doesn’t say anything because it’s Junior’s birthday. The couple has sacrificed a bit of money so they can buy him a basketball and keep him happy, but while Junior is distracted, Linda lets Chris know how angry she is at his lack of responsibility.
A month later, Chris goes to see Jay and asks what happened to his application, but Jay is in a hurry. Chris pretends he’s going the same way so they can take a taxi together, and once again Chris tries to impress him by talking about his skills. However Jay is focused on solving his own Rubik’s cube and keeps failing.
Frustrated, Chris takes the cube from him and finishes solving it by the time the cab arrives at Jay’s destination. Jay is incredibly impressed, yet he leaves the taxi and now Chris has to pay. Obviously he doesn’t have any money, so Chris gets off the car at a signal and runs away, causing the taxi driver to chase him.
A desperate Chris runs into the train station and gets into a train, but the train painfully door closes on his hand, making him drop his scanner in the station. This whole deal has delayed Chris’ entire schedule, and when he calls Linda to apologize, she’s incredibly angry because she missed her shift to pick up Junior, and they needed that money. This is the final straw, so she announces she’s leaving and taking Junior with her.
Devastated to hear this, Chris runs back to his house but it’s too late: Linda has already left with their son and all her things. At that moment Chris gets a call from Jay who tells Chris to write down his secretary’s number so that he can call tomorrow and arrange an interview. When Chris can’t find a single pen, he does his best to memorize the number, then he rushes to a store nearby to borrow some paper and write the number down.
The next morning, Chris goes to the daycare and confronts Linda about what happened. Linda explains she isn’t happy anymore and while Chris can accept her leaving, he won’t allow her to take the kid, so they agree to take turns. Without Linda’s income, the money situation gets even worse.
When the landlord finally gets tired of Chris owing him rent, he comes to ask him to vacate the place in the morning, since he has painters coming in. Chris swears he will pay soon and that he can do the painting himself, so the landlord agrees to give him one more week. A few days later, while Chris is painting the walls, two policemen arrive home and take him to the station, where he has to pay for all of his parking tickets.
Unfortunately the police officer tells him they will verify it at 9:30 in the morning, so he has to spend the night in jail. Chris tries to explain he has an interview the next morning, but it falls on deaf ears. With his one call, Chris asks Linda to pick up Junior.
The next morning, Chris is freed, but he’s almost running late so he runs to the interview in his shabby clothes. At the firm, the interview panel is disappointed by what they see, thus Chris explains the situation and Jay confirms all the other times he saw him, Chris had been in a proper suit. Chris is funny, witty, and smart, so he manages to make a very good impression.
After the interview is over, Jay comes to congratulate him, but Chris says he will have to think about it since he’s learned that it’s an internship with no salary and his circumstances have changed. Jay urges him to continue and promises he will fill his spot, so Jay promises to call him in the evening. Later in the evening, Linda brings Junior and drops big news: she is heading to New York because her sister’s boyfriend is starting a restaurant and she might have a job there.
Chris announces he’s keeping Junior because he knows Linda can’t take care of him. Inspired by her choice to do whatever she wants, Chris also tells her about the internship, which makes her even more upset and causes her to leave. After she’s gone, Chris calls Jay and accepts the job.
The next day, Chris and his son move to a nearby motel with the help of a friend. Since it’s Saturday, Chris takes his son to play some basketball, and Junior says he is going to be a pro. Chris explains that most people don’t make it, and when Junior gets disappointed, Chris cheers him up by explaining he should never let anyone tell him that he can’t do something, not even him.
Later, they head to the hospital to offer the scanner and finally manage to make a sale, which means some money that will keep them afloat for a few more days. The following morning, Chris goes to his first day at internship, where he learns about the trade. Chris works very hard and tries to prove he’s the best for the position, never letting anyone know that he’s poor.
During a lunch break, Chris finds his boss Mr Frohm on the street and starts a conversation, wanting to lick some boots to improve his chances. However he interrupts himself when he notices that the crazy guy has the scanner, still thinking it’s a time machine. Chris immediately goes after him, chasing him down the street and through the traffic, only to end up hit by a car.
Chris loses sight of the guy but also loses a shoe, so he returns to the office in that state while playing it cool. Over the next few days, Chris keeps doing favors for office manager Frakesh and keeps making phone calls to get in the clients, to no avail. To make matters worse, Chris has to leave early to pick up Junior, so he has to complete the same work as the others in less time.
This causes Chris to never hang up the phone, never drink water, and never go to the bathroom. He avoids the motel manager because he owes him money, and brings Junior with him when he goes to hospitals on the weekends to try to sell his last machines. One day, Chris decides to do the list out of order to accelerate the process and makes a risky call, managing to get an appointment with top-level pension fund manager Mr Ribbon, who tells him to come to his office in twenty minutes.
Chris tries to rush out of the building, only for Frakesh to stop him and ask him to park his car somewhere else. Not having any other choice, Chris tries to do the parking as fast as possible, but by the time he makes it to the meeting, Ribbon is already gone. The following morning, Chris goes to Ribbon’s house, pretending he just happens to be in the area.
He thanks Ribbon for the opportunity and apologizes again, then he pretends he’ll be taking Junior to the football game. Ribbon informs him he’s going with his kid too, so he invites Chris and Junior to come with them to his private box. During the game, Chris tries his sales speech on Ribbon, but no matter how much Ribbon admits he likes Chris, he isn’t interested.
However Chris gets the cards of Ribbon’s rich friends, who show more interest. Weeks pass with Chris doing his best to survive between his internship and the sales of the scanners. However the day finally comes for the IRS to take money from Chris’s bank account for his unpaid taxes, leaving him broke.
Desperate, Chris tries to ask an old friend for the money he lent him, but the friend says he already paid him when he helped him move. Chris gets furious, but his friend just closes the door on him. Sometime later, Chris took his son to the park and sees the crazy man with the scanner again.
Immediately Chris goes after him and retrieves his machine, which is in a rather bad state now. Chris cleans it and tries to sell it to the doctor, but unfortunately the machine isn’t working. When Chris and Junior return to the motel, they find their things outside and see the lock has been changed because of the lack of payment.
Chris tries to pick the lock and open the window to no avail, meaning they’re now homeless. Since his friend still won’t open his door, Chris takes Junior to the train station and while they’re waiting for the train, Junior points out that the scanner isn’t a time machine like the crazy guy said. Chris tells him that it is and starts a game to cheer Chris up, pretending they travel through time and can see the dinosaurs.
Then Chris announces good cavemen need a cave, so they sneak into the station’s bathroom and lock the door. The duo spends the night there on a blanket of toilet paper, and while Junior is asleep, Chris allows himself to cry. The next day Chris and Junior go to a homeless shelter that rejects them because it’s only for women and children, but they get a tip about another one.
They run there as fast as they can because the line is long and the spots are limited, getting to the entrance just in time when there are only four places left. A hobo tries to slice in to steal the last spot, but Chris immediately fights him back and when security hears the guy cheated, Chris gets the last room. In the shelter, Chris uses the little light available to try to fix the scanner and study for the internship exam.
Whenever he goes to work, he brings his few possession with him and makes up some excuse to his coworkers to explain why he’s carrying bags around. During the following days, Chris manages to bring in some clients to the firm thanks to the cards he collected. On the exam day, he’s very nervous but he still manages to finish the test pretty quickly.
On his way out, Chris bumps into Frohm, who just got out of a taxi. Since he’s in a hurry, he asks Chris to lend him five bucks to pay for the cab. Chris can’t afford to waste that, but still does it not to look bad.
This delay doesn’t allow Chris to get to the shelter in time, so he and Junior end up sleeping on a train. The next day, Chris donates blood for money and uses to it buy a spare part for the scanner. Today they do get to the shelter in time, and Chris finally fixes his machine.
In bed, Junior wonders if his mother left because of him, and Chris makes sure to comfort him and convince him it wasn’t like that. The next day, they manage to sell the scanner, and to make Junior feel better, Chris gets them a night at a hotel. That weekend they spend it together on the beach to bond and catch a break.
On his last day as an intern, Chris meets Jay in the washroom, who congratulates him for bringing in many clients and says he did a great job. Later, Chris is called to Frohm’s office, where he’s informed that he’s gotten the permanent position he wanted so much. He’s already starting tomorrow, and to seal the deal, Frohm gives Chris back the five bucks.
As Chris leaves the building, he cries and explains this is the part of his life called happiness. Afterward Chris goes to pick up his son and hugs him tightly, ready to start their new life. Eventually the real Chris went on to form his own multimillion-dollar brokerage firm, and made millions by selling his minority stake in the firm.
He's also written a very successful book detailing his whole experience.
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