Peter Gibbons works at Initech and hates his job. He also hates his abusive and annoying Division VP Bill Lumbergh and now the company has just hired consultants to help make cuts to downsize the company.
Peter's best friends are software engineers Michael Bolton and Samir Nagheenanajar, they also hate Initech. Peter's girlfriend is cheating on him, but she convinces Peter to visit a hypnotherapist to get some inspiration to be more ambitious. Peter tells the doctor how miserable his life is and goes under hypnosis. The hypnosis helps Peter - but not quite in the way he expected.
Peter no longer cares about his job, his cheating girlfriend or ripping off the company by embezzling funds.
And then there is Milton and his stapler.......