In Los Angeles, California, Louis Bloom knocks out a security guard who catches him trespassing. Later, he sells stolen chain-link fencing, copper wire, and manhole covers to a scrap yard owner. Louis asks for a job, but the prospective employer refuses to hire a thief. Louis uses an application on his phone to arrange a date with an older, married woman. Although he tries to share a meal with her, she says she only has thirty minutes and asks to have rough sex in her car. On the way home, he stops at the site of a car accident and watches as Joe Loder, a freelance cameraman, films the victim being pulled out of her car. Louis asks Loder if his footage will appear on television, and the cameraman says, “If it bleeds, it leads.” The next day, Louis sees Loder’s footage on the morning news. At Venice Beach, he steals a bicycle and pawns it in exchange for a video camcorder and a police scanner, then sets out on the streets of Los Angeles to film crime and accident scenes. At the site of a carjacking, Louis approaches a shooting victim and police yell at him to stay back. Louis overhears another freelance cameraman negotiating a rate for footage of the same scene. Louis goes to television station KWLA-5 and introduces himself as “Lou Bloom.” He meets news director Nina Romina, who says she already has footage of the carjacking. Louis insists he got closer to the victim, and when Nina reviews his footage, she expresses interest despite assignment director Frank Kruse’s opinion that the video is too grisly. Nina says they will run the footage with a warning, and link the crime to other recent carjackings. Louis asks for $1,000, but Nina will only pay $250. She tells him he has a good eye and suggests he buy a directional microphone for interviews. Nina also tips him off that KWLA viewers are more interested in crime in the suburbs, accidents, and “graphic” material. The next day, Louis’s footage airs. He studies police codes and places an advertisement for an assistant. An applicant named Rick meets him at a diner and reveals he is homeless, but has a cell phone and a driver’s license. Louis tells Rick the job is an unpaid internship, but Rick insists he must earn something, and Louis agrees to pay him thirty dollars per night. On their first outing, Louis frightens Rick with his reckless driving, and Rick fails to alert him about a turn on the way to a fire. They arrive at the scene after Joe Loder, who teases Louis about his camcorder. A shooting is announced over the police scanner, and Louis and Rick respond to the call. While police interview the unharmed victims outside, Louis sneaks inside their house and finds bullet holes in the refrigerator. He rearranges family photographs around the bullet holes and films them, then steals a piece of mail to identify the victims. Nina Romina likes the footage, but Frank Kruse argues it is intrusive. Nina wields her authority and dismisses Frank’s opinion, prompting Louis to congratulate her on how she “handled” Frank. Louis spouts information he learned from an online business course, and says television news is his new passion. He continues to sell his work to KWLA and uses the money to buy a flashy sports car. At a gas station, he yells at Rick for allowing gasoline to drip on the car’s paint job and threatens to fire him if it happens again. Later, Louis and Rick arrive first at the site of a car crash. Louis drags the bloodied victim along the ground in order to get a better camera angle and sneaks away when police arrive. At the television station, Nina congratulates him on his third leading story that week. She notices blood on his shirt, but Louis shrugs it off and asks her to dinner. Nina tells Louis she is twice his age and doesn’t want to mess up their working relationship, but Louis implies the relationship would only be harmed if she refuses him. Outside, Joe Loder approaches Louis, saying he is about to add a second van to his fleet and would like Louis to join his operation. Louis refuses, claiming that working for himself is more in line with his skills and career goals. Nina goes to dinner with Louis, who reveals that he is from the north end of the San Fernando Valley but no longer knows anyone there. Louis tells Nina he wants to start a relationship and “team up” with her. Nina responds that she only came to dinner as a professional courtesy, but Louis threatens that she could lose her job if he stops supplying her with footage of crime scenes. He reminds her that KWLA is the lowest-rated television station in Los Angeles, and claims he has single-handedly raised the value of their ratings book. Knowing Nina’s two-year contract is about to expire, Louis insinuates that it would be in her best interest to have sex with him. Later, Rick asks Louis for a raise, but Louis denies him. They arrive late at the site of a plane crash and Loder boasts he has already obtained exclusive footage. Nina chastises Louis for missing the action and reminds him it is “sweeps week,” a crucial time for television ratings. Soon after, Louis tinkers underneath Loder’s news van parked at his home, then sneaks away. That night, Louis and Rick respond to the scene of a car accident and find Loder’s van smashed into a pole. Rick discourages Louis from filming as Loder is pulled from the van, but Louis moves in for a close-up, alleging professional objectivity. Louis and Rick arrive at a domestic call in Granada Hills while a shooting is still in progress. Afraid, Rick stays in the car while Louis approaches the house and hides behind a bush. He films two gunmen as they flee, getting a clear shot of their faces and license plate. Inside, Louis shoots close-ups of three victims, one of whom is still alive. Louis and Rick flee as police sirens approach. At KWLA, Nina reviews the footage and asks her colleague, Linda, if they can legally air it. Linda says they will have to blur out the victims’ faces and withhold the address. Meanwhile, Frank insists it would be immoral to screen the footage. Louis and Nina negotiate a price, arriving at $15,000. Louis demands that his company name, Video Production News, be credited onscreen, and that Nina introduce him to everyone at the station. He also says Nina should allow him to do the things he wants to her when they are alone in her apartment, unlike the last time. Police detectives Fronteiri and Lieberman visit Louis at home and inquire about the Granada Hills crime scene. Louis claims he happened to hear gunshots and went inside to offer assistance. Fronteiri asks if he saw or filmed the suspects, but Louis states he only saw their dark SUV driving away and provides the detectives with an edited video. After they leave, Louis reviews the complete footage and finds the SUV’s license plate number, which he uses to identify one of the suspects. Louis gives Rick a promotion and tells him to name his new salary. Rick starts to ask for $100 per night, but reduces his request to $75. Louis tells Rick his plan to stake out the shooting suspects and follow them to a public place. There, he will call in their location for the $50,000 police reward, and film the arrest. Rick only agrees to help if they split the reward. They stake out a suspect’s house and follow his SUV as he picks up his accomplice. The men go to a fast-food restaurant, and Rick worries that restaurant patrons will be hurt if the arrest happens here. Louis ignores him and calls 911, then threatens to hurt Rick unless he leaves the car to film the action from the street. Louis shoots from inside the car as four policemen arrive. One of the suspects draws a gun, but is shot down by police. Restaurant patrons and the other suspect are shot, but the surviving suspect escapes in the SUV. Louis and Frank follow the high-speed police chase, which ends in a crash. Louis gets out of his car and peers inside the upturned SUV. He pronounces the driver dead and orders Rick to film a close-up. However, when Rick approaches the car, the suspect shoots him. Emerging from the car, the suspect ignores Louis, who is still filming, and approaches an oncoming police car. The suspect is shot down. Louis films a close-up of a dying Rick, and confesses that he could not jeopardize his company’s success for an untrustworthy employee. At KWLA, Nina views Louis’s footage and deems it amazing. Before it is aired, detectives Fronteiri and Lieberman arrive and attempt to seize the video, but Nina demands a judge’s order. Frank informs Nina that drugs were found in the Granada Hills house, but she does not want to report the information until the next day, insisting viewers care more about innocent victims. Frank accuses Nina of sounding like Louis, and she admits he has inspired her to reach higher. At the police station, Louis tells Fronteiri that the shooters staked out his house and followed him. He claims he made an evasive maneuver and reported their location to the police. Fronteiri does not believe him, and says he does not seem sad about his dead partner. Louis insists he was just doing his job. Sometime later, Louis stands by two news vans painted with his company’s logo and welcomes three unpaid interns, promising they will never be asked to do anything Louis wouldn’t do himself.