the pursuit of happiness...

drama film based on Chris Gadner's nearly 1 year struggle with homelessness salesman-turned stockbroker.

in 1981, San Francisco, Chris  Gadner invests his family's saving in portable bone-density scanners which he tries to demonstrate and sell to doctors. the investment proves to be a white elephant which financially breaks the family and as a result, Linda (his wife) leaves him with their son Christopher and moves to New York. while downtown trying to sell one of his scanners, Chris meets a manager for Dean witter and impress him by solving the Cube during a short cab ride.

in that time, Chris does not have enough money for the cab fare and flees the cab driver into subway station where he barely escapes the cab driver but loses one of his scanner in the process. this relationship with Dean Witter manager earns him the chance to become an intern stockbroker. despite arriving there unkempt and shabbily dressed due to an emergency, Chris is offered the internship. he further set back when his bank account is garnished by IRS for unpaid taxes, and he and his young son are evicted. as a result they are homeless, and are forced at one point to stay in a bathroom at a subway station. motivation drives him to find the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, which has homeless shelter primarily for single mothers and their children. due to demand for the limited rooms. Chris must frantically race from his internship work early each afternoon in order to land a place in line. Chris finds the scanner that he lost in the subway station from a demented man who believes it's a time machine and it is now damage but finally he manage to fix it. ^^, the disadvantaged by his limited work hours, and knowing that maximazing his client contacts and profits is that he and his 19 competitors are fighting for, Chris develops a number of ways to make phone sales calls more efficiently. he also reaches out to potential high value customers, defying protocol. 1 sympathetic propect takes him and his son to professional football game. regardless of Chris's challenges, he never reveals his lowly circumtances to his co-workers, even going so far as to lend one of his bosses 5 dollar for a cab, a sum that he can't afford.

concluding his internship, chris is called into a meeting with his managers. his work has paid off and he is offend the position. fighting back tears, he rushes to his son's daycare, hugging him. (sweet moment make me cry.) they walk down the street, joking with other and are passed by man in a business suit. the epilogue reveals that chris went on to form his own multi million dollar brokerage firm.