Adrian Monk worked as a detective for the San Francisco Police Department until his wife was killed by a car bomb. Suffering a nervous breakdown following the event, he was subsequently discharged from the squad.
After becoming a recluse and refusing to leave home for years, Monk is convinced to rejoin society and begins to work as a private detective and consultant of difficult cases. However he is forced to deal with his severe obsessive–compulsive disorder as he tries to convince his former Captain that he is fit to return to the force.