The film traces the extraordinary life of Charles Bukowski from an abusive childhood through decades of poverty and alcoholism; numerous menial jobs and turbulent relationships to his eventual international celebrity as a poet, novelist and underground cult figure. Director John Dullaghan spent seven years researching and conducting dozens of interviews with relatives, neighbours, fellow post office workers, girlfriends and friends like Bono, Sean Penn, Harry Dean Stanton, Barbet Schroeder and Taylor Hackford. In doing so the director has crafted a fitting portrait of a literary icon, offering the most revealing look yet of Bukowski and his work.