The film diverges from Melville's story, setting it in a modern office and adding sitcom-style humor, but maintaining an element of surrealism.

While on his way to work one day, the film's narrator, the unnamed manager of a public records office (hereafter referred to as the Boss), sees a forlorn-looking man standing on an overpass.

The Boss's office is in a building on top of a large hill, completely inaccessible by foot, and he employs three people: Ernest, an overweight and neurotic klutz; Rocky, who looks and acts like a stereotypical mobster; and Vivian, his verbose, flirtatious, and bluntly honest receptionist.

The Boss decides to advertise for a fourth employee to help with an expected increase in workload, but the only person who applies for the job is the man from the overpass, the titular Bartleby.

But when asked to help verify important documents, Bartleby refuses, responding with what becomes his answer to every request and one of his only lines for the rest of the film: "I would prefer not to."

During all of this, Vivian becomes close to the Boss's benefactor, City Manager Frank Waxman, but before anything can come of their relationship, he catches her, Ernest, and Rocky all bullying Bartleby.

When the Boss learns of this, he goes searching for Bartleby and finds him weak and delirious from starvation in a homeless camp, having preferred not to eat anymore.