Synopsis for
Adaptation. (2002) More at IMDbPro »

John Laroche and his wife run a successful Florida nursery, but tragedy strikes and Laroche's wife, mother and uncle are involved in a car accident. Laroche's mother and uncle are killed immediately, but his wife goes into a coma, divorcing Laroche and suing him once she regains consciousness. One month later, Laroche's home and everything he owns is destroyed by Hurricane Andrew. Meanwhile, local Seminoles hire Laroche due to his vast knowledge of flowers and orchid poaching. However, the Seminoles only use the extract of the Ghost Orchid for illicit drug use, and not for tribal ceremonials as Laroche thought.

Laroche is caught at the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park and the ensuing trial captures the attention of New Yorker journalist Susan Orlean. Laroche and Susan become great friends, with Susan writing The Orchid Thief. Laroche and Susan then become romantically involved, while Susan is still married, albeit unhappily, in New York. The Orchid Thief is then optioned by Columbia Pictures.

During the filming of Being John Malkovich, the self-loathing and social phobic Charlie Kaufman is hired to write the screenplay. At the same time Charlie is going through melancholic depression and his twin brother Donald moves into his house in Los Angeles, mooching off Charlie. Donald decides to become a screenwriter like Charlie, and visits the seminars of Robert McKee. Charlie wants to adapt the script into a faithful adaptation of The Orchid Thief, hoping to impress Susan. However, he realizes that there is no narrative involved and finds it impossible to turn the book into a film, going through a serious case of writer's block.

Meanwhile, Donald's spec script for a cliché psychological thriller sells for over one million dollars, while Charlie accidentally starts writing his script with self-reference. Already well over his deadline with Columbia Pictures, Charlie visits Susan in New York for advice on the screenplay. In New York Charlie finds that he is not courageous enough to meet Susan, leaving without consulting with her. Charlie visits a McKee seminar in New York, gaining advice from McKee, and bringing Donald to assist with the story structure. Donald even agrees to go on an interview with Susan, posing as Charlie and remains wary of Susan's answers. With Donald convinced that Susan is lying, he and Charlie follow Susan to Florida where she meets Laroche. Donald and Charlie finds Susan and Laroche taking the Ghost Orchid drug and having sex. This is followed by a sequence of events which include a car chase, Donald being shot and then killed in a car crash, Laroche getting bitten by an alligator and Susan being arrested by the police. His writer's block broken, Charlie finally summons up the courage to tell his former girlfriend, Amelia, that he is in love with her. He finishes his script, with Gérard Depardieu in mind to portray him in the film.