In a cabin tucked in the snow-covered mountains of Colorado, journalist Hunter S. Thompson has two hours until his deadline. He screams when the telephone rings, vowing not to answer the call because it is his editor. When the editor telephones a second time, Hunter feeds an advertisement into the fax machine. When the telephone rings a third time, Hunter shoots the fax machine with a gun. Back at the typewriter, he continues his story about his lawyer, Carl Lazlo, and recalls the way things were in 1968 San Francisco, California: Hunter is checked into a hospital to finish his deadline. He is hooked to an intravenous line with Wild Turkey whiskey, and cooks food on a hot plate, while he and a nurse ingest various drugs. Lazlo visits Hunter and advises him to leave the hospital immediately. As Hunter drives away, he types Lazlo’s opinions about illegal police searches on his young clients. Lazlo adds that judges compound the problem by handing out unfair sentences. As the interview continues, Hunter sideswipes a car that crashes into a parked police motorcycle. At a bar, Hunter and Lazlo talk while drinking beers, and Hunter places several sports bets to his bookmaker on a payphone. Later at the courthouse, Hunter observes Lazlo and his clients. Before the hearing starts, Hunter swallows several pills, and drinks a Bloody Mary. Lazlo tells the judge that if he took all his cases to trial he could back up the courts for six years, and suggests that his motions be heard instead. In the hallway, Blast magazine editor, Marty Lewis, finds Hunter and reminds him of his deadline in nineteen hours. Back in the courtroom, the judge gives three of Lazlo’s clients six-month jail sentences after a pack of cigarettes is found during an illegal police search of their apartment. In the second case, police search a friend’s backpack held by teenager Billy Kramer and find a pound of marijuana. When the judge grants Billy a three-year prison sentence, the teenager says he does not understand. The judge responds by increasing the boy’s sentence to five years to life. Lazlo stirs up the crowd, picks up the district attorney, and throws him at the judge. Later, Hunter delivers copy to Marty while Lazlo is sent to jail for contempt and later quits the law profession. Hunter remembers that in 1972 the political climate of the country turned grim in the age of Richard Nixon, and it was a good reason to take lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). At the time, Hunter had an episode of paranoia and attacked the chauffeur. When Hunter calms down, he remembers he is on assignment to cover the Super Bowl. He requests that several office machines be sent to his room along with some gourmet food from room service. In his hotel room, Hunter dresses like a referee. He takes a telephone call from Marty, and as they talk, room service appears. Hunter offers a marijuana cigarette to the bellhop, and asks Marty for more expense money. The editor is quick to remind Hunter that 10,000 words are due the following day. Soon, the desk sends two bellmen to investigate the complaints of noise coming from Hunter’s room. Inside, Hunter throws football passes to a bellman and a maid, and ignores the knocks on the door. The next morning, Lazlo, wearing a Richard Nixon mask, joins Hunter in the hotel restaurant after an absence of three years and persuades him to ignore his assignment. As the men leave, they trade Hunter’s game tickets, press passes, and hotel room for a bottle of wine and a suede hat from bystanders. While driving, Hunter and Lazlo snort cocaine. At a secluded cabin, Lazlo introduces Hunter to Billy, who was released from Folsom Prison after three years, and Rojas, a Mexican revolutionary that Lazlo has been supplying with guns. Lazlo thinks that Rojas’ cause would make a good story for Hunter, but the writer is not convinced, and sprays one of Rojas’ men with mace, then asks for a ride back to his hotel. However, Lazlo complains that he needs Hunter’s help. At night, they greet a plane on a secluded runway, and load it with guns. When a police helicopter appears, Lazlo, Rojas, and the others escape, leaving Hunter behind. Somehow, Hunter returns to civilization and later speaks to a college audience about journalism. A bottle of liquor and an ice bucket accompany him on stage. When one student asks if drugs and alcohol will make her a better journalist, Hunter lights a marijuana cigarette. The enthusiastic crowd throws additional marijuana cigarettes on the stage. Another student asks if Hunter plans to write any more articles about Lazlo and questions if he ever existed at all. Hunter responds that Lazlo is very real, but has not been seen in some time and is believed to be dead. He again remembers in 1972: Hunter is assigned to cover the presidential campaign. However, press secretary Dooley kicks Hunter off the press plane before it leaves and he rides on the “zoo” airplane with the technical staff instead. When he is seated next to a fellow journalist named Harris from the Post, he offers him Quaaludes to calm his fear of turbulence, and cure his headache. Before long, Harris is laughing and dancing in the aisles, and joins Hunter in the co-pilot’s seat in the cockpit. With Harris out of commission, Hunter steals his suit and his press credentials. He then boards the campaign press plane only to discover that Lazlo plans to go along, and is eager to share new information with Hunter about his work with revolutionaries. When Dooley calls Lazlo “a fat clown,” Hunter knocks Dooley unconscious. He sprays everyone in the cabin with a fire extinguisher he grabs from the overhead bin, even President Nixon, who peers through the door of his private quarters. As Hunter and Lazlo leave the airplane, Lazlo has a truck waiting to drive them to a remote cabin, where Lazlo is certain they can be partners and build their own paradise. Only this time, Hunter is convinced Lazlo is insane and refuses to go. Back in the present, Hunter finishes his story, and admits that maybe Lazlo was not insane, he just had “strange rhythms.” In celebration, he pours a glass of Wild Turkey, and shares alcohol with his Doberman Pincher, Bronco. He acknowledges that although Lazlo and Richard Nixon are gone, he is not going to believe it until he has the opportunity to gnaw on their skulls with his own teeth. With all certainty, he promises to find them and follow through with his plan.