- Guy Montag is a fireman that thoroughly enjoys his job of book burning and does not even question why it is done.
- One evening, he meets Clarisse, a teenage girl that teaches him to look at life from a different perspective.
- The same evening he discovers his wife, Mildred, has overdosed on sleeping pills and he is unsure whether she did it on purpose or out of carelessness. After getting her stomach pumped and her blood detoxified, Mildred wakes up and denies attempting suicide.
- Guy answers a call to burn down an old lady's library. The woman refuses to abandon her books so she ends up burning alive however, Guy manages to sneak a book home and add it to his illegal library.
- Guy learns of Clarisse's death and feels despondent; as a result he calls in sick.
- Unfortunately Captain Beatty makes a surprise visit by Guy's house and hints that he knows about Guy's secret library and asks him to give up his books.
- Guy tries to understand the secret of the books, but becomes discouraged and seeks help from a retired English professor, Faber.
- The two of them devise a plan to print copies of the book Guy stole (the Bible).
- Guy then returns home wearing an earpiece that keeps him connected with Faber. All his caution is gone when he finds Mildred's friends and in anger he forces them to listen to poems from one of his forbidden books.
- Guy goes to the fire station and gives up a book, but when the alarm sounds, he finds that he has to burn his own house.
- Mildred, who has betrayed Guy, abandons him and Captain Beatty taunts him until Guy turns on his flamethrower, burning Beatty to a crisp along with the Mechanical Hound that was set to kill Guy.
- A long chase ensues with Guy finally escaping into the woods from the dangers of the city.
- He meets a band of outcasts that are trying to keep the books alive by memorizing them and fascinated by their mission, Guy decides to join them.
- When the city is destroyed by enemies in a sudden war, the misfits make their way back towards the ruins in hopes of fixing the twisted sense of society in America.