Greg Sestero is an aspiring performer, who fails to impress his tutor Jean Shelton or the other students in his acting class. He is mesmerised by fellow student Tommy Wiseau, who is utterly fearless in the spotlight. The two men bond and Tommy invites Greg to accompany him to Hollywood to seek their fortune. Unperturbed by their inability to break into the film industry, Tommy and Greg decide to make their own film, working from a ramshackle script that Tommy thrashed out on his typewriter.