Former police detective Adrian Monk suffers from intensified obsessive-compulsive disorder and a variety of phobias. Despite his photographic memory and his amazing ability to piece tiny clues together, he is now on psychiatric leave from the San Francisco Police Department. With the aid of his nurse Sharona Fleming, Monk works as a freelance consultant, hoping to convince his former boss to allow him to return to the force.

Monk, a quirky and obsessive-compulsive detective, encounters various problems after Dr. Kroger suddenly dies, and after buying a house, he is forced to deal with a murdered homeless man, lottery murders, a stolen bike, exploding grills, and male bonding rituals with Stottlemeyer.