George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a 35 year old a career transition counselor at a Denver-based management consulting company, Integrated Strategic Management (ISM). Ryan travels around the country to terminate corporate employees. He does not have a personal life and he numbs himself with sex, booze and drugs. His life on the road comes to a halt when his company downsizes its travel budget. He is required to spend more time at home just as he is on the cusp of a goal hes worked toward for years: reaching five million frequent flyer miles and just after hes met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams.