 The film diverges from Melville's story, setting it in a modern office and adding sitcom-style humor, but maintaining an element of surrealism.The film opens with a brief summary of Herman Melville's life; his popularity waning after he wrote "Moby Dick" and "Bartleby, the Scrivener", Melville could no longer make a living writing and took a job as a clerk at the New York Custom House.By the time he died at age 72, almost nobody knew who he was.