Richard (Middleditch) is an introverted computer programmer who lives in Haker hostel with his best friends: Big Head, the infatuated Gilfoyle (Starr) and the sarcastic Dinesh (Nanjiani). This group of social misfits lives under the supervision of Erlich, a millionaire who allows them to live in his house for free-as long as he gets 10% of their project.

After failing to sell a project to billionaire Peter Gregory (Welch), Richard is forced to continue working at Hooli, a technology company founded by megalomaniac Gavin Belson (Ross). When Monica (Crew), head of Operations developed by Gregory, and Jared (Woods), an executive director at Hooli, realize the value of the algorithm for sites, an offer war breaks out between Belson and Gregory, and Richard gets caught in the middle.