Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is just an ordinary, in fact very boring, tax auditor. He lives his life on a very tight schedule, doing the same things at the same time every day without fail. All of that changes one day when he starts hearing a voice that appears to be narrating his life. Following this occurrence he tries to discover exactly what is going on, with the help of an English professor, Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), Harold is eventually able to track down the voice in his head, novelist Karen Eiffel. Eiffel (Emma Thompson), with the help of her assistant Penny Escher (Queen Latifah), is busily trying to write the story of Harold Crick. The only problem is that Eiffel always kills off the main character of her novels and Harold must find a way to save himself from his fate before it is too late. Along the way Harold discovers some things about himself that he never knew and finds love with one of his auditees Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal). What will become of a life that is truly 'Stranger Than Fiction'?