A recently divorced English professor, David Preston, leaves his teaching position to pursue his dream of becoming a prize-winning journalist. His new job as an underpaid copy editor at a tabloid magazine called "Stuff" puts his career values to the test. The eccentric staff at "Stuff" includes: Larry Dunhill, the editor who rebels against David's attempts to increase the integrity of the publication; Kelly Freeman, a burned out, one-time award-winning writer who left the world of real news to escape ulcers and anxiety; Harlow, a paranoid, passive-aggressive researcher who gets defensive when things don't go his way; and the smug, corporate-climbing head of personnel, Adam Green, a former student of Preston's whom Preston had once flunked. When David makes this drastic move from academia to the big city, he rents a tiny apartment that comes complete with a quirky, ne'er-do-well neighbor named Derek.