After stabbing his supervisor Gary’s tires with his farewell gift – a Swiss Army Knife with his name on it – but leaving it behind, Nick has a confrontation with teenagers outside a convenience store.

He returns home to find his wife Catherine is gone, the locks have been changed, and his belongings are strewn all over his lawn; she has left a letter explaining that she is leaving him, also over the Denver incident, and not to contact her.

Almost arrested when the police ask him to vacate the premises, Nick has them contact his AA sponsor, Detective Frank Garcia, who provides him with a permit for a yard sale, allowing him three more days before he must move on.

Nick reveals that he had been sober for six months until a business trip to Denver, where he got blackout drunk with a female colleague; he awoke with no memory of the night before, but she lodged a complaint against him, leading to his firing.

Asking Frank to tell his wife he is sorry, Nick walks home; he almost stops at the convenience store where he regularly bought beer, but moves on and spends the night in his old bed.

The critical consensus states: "It may not improve on the Raymond Carver short story that inspired it, but Everything Must Go resists cliche and boasts a pair of magnetic performances from the perfectly cast Ferrell and Wallace.