New York intellectual playwright Barton Fink comes to Hollywood to work as a screenwriter. Staying in the eerie Hotel Earle, Barton develops severe writer's block when his studio boss orders the serious-minded Barton to write a low budget wrestling movie. His neighbor, jovial insurance salesman Charlie Meadows, tries to help, but Barton continues to struggle as a bizarre sequence of events distracts him even further from his task.