Intrigue

Tommy Wilhelm is a good honest man who's fallen on hard times after losing his job, but what really gets to Tommy is seeing both his friends and family turning their backs on him one after the other. He tries to seize the day - in vain.

Tommy Wilhelm (Robin Williams) is a salesman. An honest, hard-working guy who has lost his job, his girlfriend, and left part of his sanity behind as he heads to New York to pick up the pieces of his life. He's always been able to sell, but caught in a downward spiral, he must, in addition, face the father who never really understood him, while trying to balance his newly precarious existence—monterey media/Learning in Focus, Inc.

When good honest hard-working salesman Tommy Wilhelm learns that his boss has given half of his clients to his son-in-law, Tommy in a fit or rage violently protests against this decision, and it costs him his job. Tommy tries turning to his father Dr. Adler, a somewhat wealthy gentleman who lives in an elite hotel for old single people. Unfortunately, Adler has always believed in tough love and now that he's burdened by old age, he's even harsher towards his son, seeing him as nothing but an utter disappointment, a parasite, and his own personal failure. Tommy's girlfriend Olive tries to offer him some moral support but what Tommy really needs is a decent paying job, since he has a shrewish ex-wife, Margaret, and two children to support. After several failed job interviews, Tommy's morale drops significantly. He grows jealous of the old folk who live at the hotel, since they still find ways to earn decent money and he can't even find work. He uses his family's last name to rent a room there on credit and befriends Dr. Tamkin, a shrewd hotel tenant who claims to be a psychiatrist and supports himself by using his infamous special techniques to treat his female patients. Although popular among the women at the hotel, Tamkin has gained a controversial reputation among the male tenants since he constantly keeps coming up with get-rich-quick schemes and questionable tales about his life and expertise. Inspired by the man's motto of seizing the day and always planning ahead, Tommy decides to trust him and Tamkin convinces Tommy to invest the little savings he has left in the stock market.