Scene summaries

Act 1

The daycare center

The film The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) directed by Gabriele Muccino opens with an image of the text from the Declaration of Independence with the phrase "Pursuit of Happiness" highlighted. 

The main character, Chris wakes up his son, Christopher, and they take the bus to the daycare center. Christopher wants to make a list of birthday presents, but Chris tells him that he will not get that many. Christopher appears sad but then says the list is to help him choose which presents he wants the most. He then asks if they can go to the park afterwards, but Chris is busy. 

Outside the daycare center, Chris asks a janitor about cleaning the graffiti from the daycare wall. Chris is bothered both by a rude word, as well as by the misspelling of the word happiness as “happyness”. The janitor does not appear to speak English. 

Chris looks through the window at Christopher who is inside and reflects via voiceover that because he only met his father when he was 28, he is determined to make his children know who their father is. 

Struggling to make ends meet

Chris waits at the bus stop, with a large medical equipment in his lap. A homeless man sits down beside him and asks him if what he carries is a time machine. As they get on the bus, the homeless man keeps repeating that it is a time machine, causing people to turn and look at them. Chris informs the viewer via voiceover that the equipment is a portable bone-density scanner. He tries to sell it to a doctor, but is unsuccessful because the value of the equipment is not worth how expensive it is. 

Chris tells his wife, Linda, that he cannot pick their son up from daycare because he has to go to Oakland to try to make a sale. Linda is a laundry worker working double shifts, so she is not happy about this. She also reminds Chris that they have overdue tax bills.

Chris is again unsuccessful at selling his scanner. Furthermore, he cannot use his car as he keeps getting parking tickets for unauthorized parking near hospitals. To afford the cost of daycare for Christopher, as well as the rent and other expenses, Chris needs to sell at least two scanners a month. However, he has not met his quota for some time. 

At home in the evening, Chris notices a Rubik’s cube and asks Linda about it. She tells him it is a gift for Christopher from one of her work colleagues. Linda asks Chris if he paid the taxes. Chris says that he will have to file for another extension, and Linda reminds him that this comes with interest and penalties. However, Chris reassures her that he will have the money next month. He plays with the Rubik’s cube but does not complete all the sides.

A chance meeting

As he walks on the street, Chris notices a man in a suit getting out of a red sports car. He whistles appreciatively and asks him what he does for a living. The man replies he is a stockbroker. Chris asks if college education is necessary for this, but the man replies that the job only requires to be good with numbers and to have social skills. Chris looks at the people going in and out of the tall building where the stockbroker works, and notices that they look happy. He wonders why he cannot look the same.

The next day, Chris tells Linda that he wants to go to a brokerage firm and get a job as a stockbroker. Linda mockingly tells him he might as well become an astronaut. When Chris asks her not to belittle him, she reminds him that they are already two months behind on the rent, and she has been doing double shifts for four months. She wants him to meet his sales quota and give up on the idea of becoming a stockbroker, but Chris is determined to try.

Act 2

The theft

Chris goes to a brokerage office to sign up for a broker training program. Before going in, he leaves his portable scanner outside, asking a street singer to look after it. Chris is given a form to apply for the internship. There are already a lot of pending applications wait...