Pulp Fiction: Synopsis

The synopsis below is intended to help you remember key moments from Pulp Fiction and may help you choose particular scenes to use to emphasis some of the points you may want to make in your essay.

In particular, it may be useful for any question that focuses on narrative - just remember not to simply regurgitate the information below and, crucially, remember that the narrative construction of Pulp Fiction is unusual, following a non-linear pattern. A question on narrative will never require you to simply re-tell the events in the narrative - instead, you will be expected to discuss the way events have been structured and the ways that this structuring creates expectations and responses from the spectator.

Because Pulp Fiction presents the story out of chronological order I have included both the plot (events presented in the order that they appear in the film as we watch it) and the story (events chronologically re-ordered). You must be able to distinguish between the two, especially in any essay where you discuss narrative (though this would also be useful in an essay that focuses on Pulp Fiction as an experimental film and an essay that focuses on auteur).

Use these synopses as a way of jogging your memory about what happens in the film BUT not as a direct response to a question on narrative.

SYNOPSIS (PLOT - NON-LINEAR/FRACTURED)

Ringo/Pumpkin and Yolanda/Honey Bunny, small-time crooks, chat about how robbing a bank or a diner makes so much more sense than the liquor stores they've been holding up, and decide to rob the diner. 

After the credits, we witness hitmen Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega drive to an apartment to retrieve a briefcase for their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace, from an 'associate', Brett. On the journey, they discuss Vincent's recent stay in Amsterdam and, arriving early at the apartment, they hang back and discuss how Marsellus almost killed an associate for massaging his wife's feet. 

On entering the apartment and finding Marcellus' associates eating burgers for breakfast, Jules shoots one of Brett's colleagues.

After Vincent checks the contents of the briefcase, Jules recites a passage from the Bible before he and Vincent kill Brett for trying to double-cross their boss. 

Jules and Vincent take the briefcase to Marsellus, but have to wait while he bribes champion boxer Butch Coolidge to take a dive in his upcoming bout.

As Butch leaves, Vincent confronts him making a remark about him throwing the fight, before sitting down to speak to Marcellus.

The next day, Vincent purchases strong heroin from his drug dealer, Lance. He shoots up, then drives to meet Marsellus' wife Mia, whom he had agreed to escort to dinner while Marsellus was out of town.

They eat at a 1950s-themed restaurant and win a dancing contest, then return home with the trophy.

While Vincent is in the bathroom, Mia finds his heroin, mistakes it for cocaine, snorts it, and overdoses.

Vincent rushes her to Lance's house, where they revive her with an adrenaline shot to her heart.

A young Butch (a boxer we met earlier in the plot) receives his great grandfather's watch from Captain Coons, who was a POW with his father.

This is presented as a dream, just before Butch wakes up in his dressing room before the boxing match Marcellus has asked the fighter to 'throw'.

Butch double-crosses Marsellus and wins the bout, accidentally killing his opponent (he is informed of this in the taxi that takes him back to the motel).

At the motel where he and his girlfriend Fabienne are lying low and preparing to flee, Butch discovers she has forgotten to pack his father's gold watch, a beloved heirloom, and flies into a rage.

Returning to his apartment to retrieve the watch, he notices a gun on the kitchen counter and hears the toilet flush.

Vincent exits the bathroom and Butch shoots him dead, leaving the gun inside.

As Butch waits at a traffic light in his car, Marsellus spots him by chance as he is crossing the road. Butch runs Marcellus over, seriously injuring both of them. When Marcellus regains consciousness he chases Butch into a pawnshop.

The owner, Maynard, captures them at gunpoint and ties them up in the basement.

Maynard is joined by Zed; they take Marsellus to another room to rape him, leaving the gimp, a silent figure in a bondage suit, to watch Butch.

Butch breaks loose and knocks out the gimp.

He is about to flee but decides to save Marsellus, returning with a samurai sword from the pawnshop.

He kills Maynard; Marsellus retrieves Maynard's shotgun and shoots Zed, castrating but not killing him. Marsellus informs Butch that they are even, as long as he tells no-one about the rape and departs Los Angeles forever.

Butch picks up Fabienne on Zed's chopper and they drive away.

Earlier, after Vincent and Jules have executed Brett in his apartment, another man bursts out of the bathroom and shoots at them wildly, missing every time; Jules and Vincent kill him. Jules professes their survival was a miracle, which Vincent disputes.

As Jules drives to deliver the briefcase to Marcellus, Vincent accidentally shoots Marvin (a man they had on the inside) in the head.

They hide the car at the home of Jules' friend Jimmie, who demands they deal with the problem before his wife, Bonnie, comes home.

Marsellus sends his cleaner, Winston Wolfe (aka the Wolf), who directs Jules and Vincent to clean the car, hide the body in the trunk, dispose of their bloody clothes, and take the car to a junkyard.

At a diner, that the pair go to for breakfast before they drop the briefcase to Marcellus, Jules tells Vincent that he plans to retire from his life of crime, convinced that their 'miraculous' survival at the apartment was a sign.

While Vincent is in the bathroom, Pumpkin/Ringo and Honey Bunny/Yolanda hold up the restaurant. Jules overpowers Pumpkin/Ringo and holds him at gunpoint; Honey Bunny/Yolanda becomes hysterical and points her gun at Jules.

Vincent returns from the bathroom with his gun aimed at her.

Jules recites the biblical passage from earlier, expresses ambivalence about his life of crime, and allows the robbers to take his cash and leave.

Jules and Vincent leave the diner with the briefcase.

SYNOPSIS (STORY - LINEAR/CHRONOLOGICAL)

A young Butch (a boxer we meet later) receives his great grandfather's watch from Captain Coons, who was a POW with his father. This is presented as a dream, just before Butch wakes up in his dressing room before the boxing match Marcellus has asked the fighter to 'throw'.



Two gangsters, Jules and Vincent, talk in the car as they drive to an apartment to take back a briefcase from some drug dealers, containing some important contents that belongs to their boss, Marsellus. They chat about Vincent's recent stay in Amsterdam and, arriving early at the apartment, they hang back and discuss how Marsellus almost killed an associate for massaging his wife's feet.



When they enter the apartment, they confront the young drug dealers, who appear to have double-crossed Marsellus and kept the briefcase. Jules kills one of the dealers, before he questions the leader of the group, Brett. After Jules reads a passage from the Bible that he has memorised, he and Vincent shoot Brett as their informer, Marvin, cowers in the corner.



A fourth dealer appears out of the bathroom and empties his gun at Jules and Vincent, but misses. They shoot and kill the dealer. Jules takes the fact that they are still alive as a sign of divine intervention.



On the drive back to return the briefcase to Marsellus, Vincent accidentally shoots Marvin in the head (covering the inside of the car in blood, skull and brains) in the middle of a discussion about Jules' divine intervention theory.



They drive to the home of Jimmie, an associate of Jules. Marsellus sends his professional problem-solver, The Wolf, to clean up the mess. The Wolf succeeds in getting Jules and Vincent out of Jimmie’s house and disposes of the car and the body before Jimmie's wife gets home.



Jules and Vincent decide to stop at a diner for breakfast, where Jules tells Vincent that he's quitting his life of crime because of the way his life was divinely spared.



Ringo/Pumpkin and Yolanda/Honey Bunny, small-time crooks, chat about how robbing a bank or a diner makes so much more sense than the liquor stores they've been holding up, and decide to rob the diner. 

When Ringo makes his way over to Jules, Jules disarms him and explains to Ringo that he cannot let him have his boss' briefcase. He gives Ringo the money from his wallet, explains that he is quitting the life of crime after his divine experience earlier in the apartment, and lets him go.



Jules and Vincent leave the diner before the police arrive and go to Marsellus' club to return his briefcase. As Jules and Vincent arrive, their boss is finishing a conversation with a boxer, Butch. Butch takes Marsellus' money in exchange for agreeing to fix his next boxing match by going down in the fifth round. Jules and Vincent discuss Vincent's next assignment; to keep Marsellus' wife Mia company that evening while Marsellus is away on business. Whilst we don't see it, we assume that Jules tells Marcellus that he wants to quit the life of crime, and does so.



Before Vincent heads to pick Mia up, he buys some strong heroin from his dealer Lance and shoots up.



Vincent picks Mia up and they go to a 1950s diner, with celebrity look-a-likes as waiters and waitresses. They eat dinner and chat, before entering and winning a dancing competition.



As they arrive back at Mia’s house, the couple flirt and Vincent goes inside for a nightcap. Vincent goes into the bathroom and decides to quickly drink his drink and leave. In the lounge, Mia overdoses by snorting some of Vincent's heroin, which she believes to be cocaine.



Vincent drives her to Lance's house where they revive her with an adrenaline shot to the heart. Vincent drops Mia back at her house and they decide not to reveal the incident to Marcellus.



The next day, Butch wakes up from a dream/memory of receiving his great grandfather's watch from a captain who was a POW with his father. We don't see Butch's fight, but he knocks out his opponent in the first round, defying Marsellus' orders to throw the fight. 

He flees the scene into a waiting taxi, where the driver informs him that the guy he knocked out has died.



The taxi takes him to a motel, where Butch's girlfriend, Fabienne, is waiting for him. He asks her whether she picked up his belongings from his apartment in preparation for fleeing town. She confirms she did. When Butch wakes up in the morning, he realises that Fabienne forgot to pick up the watch.



Butch returns to his apartment to retrieve it, despite the obvious risk. While there, he sees a gun on the counter, and he hears someone flush the toilet. When Vincent comes out of the bathroom, Butch shoots and kills him.



As Butch drives away from his apartment he sees Marsellus walking back to the apartment with coffee and donuts. Butch runs Marcellus before crashing into another car. Butch regains consciousness and despite being injured pursues, shooting at him.



Butch ducks into a pawn shop and as Marsellus follows him inside, Butch knocks him to the ground. As Butch is about to kill Marcellus, the pawn shop owner pulls out a shotgun and knocks Butch out. When Marsellus and Butch regain consciousness, they are tied up in the shop basement by the shop owner.



Another man, Zed, arrives and they decide to rape Marsellus first. They leave the Gimp (who has been kept in a large wooden trunk) to keep an eye on Butch. Butch is able to escape, untying his hands and knocking the Gimp out.



As he reaches the ground floor of the shop and is about to leave, he has second thoughts about rescuing Marsellus. He turns around and searches through various weapons before grabbing a samurai sword from the pawnshop.



He goes into the back room of the basement and kills the pawnshop owner.



Marsellus shoots Zed with a shotgun, castrating but not killing him. Marcellus tells Butch that they're even as long as he doesn't tell anyone about what has happened and he leaves town immediately, never to return.



Butch jumps on Zed's motorcycle and heads back to the motel. Butch picks up Fabienne and the pair ride off.