Stranger than Fiction

The voice belongs to Karen Eiffel, a reclusive novelist played by Emma Thompson. She is famous for writing tragic novels where the main characters always die at the end. Harold, played by Will Ferrell, must track her down to stop her from finishing her latest manuscript, which dictates his impending death.

Harold starts hearing a woman's voice narrating his mundane daily actions with unsettling accuracy. When the narrator casually mentions his imminent death, he realizes he is not in control of his own destiny. He seeks the help of a literature professor, played by Dustin Hoffman, to figure out what kind of story he is trapped inside.

Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Ana Pascal, a free-spirited baker who deliberately only pays a portion of her taxes as a form of protest. As a meticulous IRS agent, Harold is assigned to audit her bakery. Their contentious meetings eventually blossom into a romance that changes Harold's outlook on life.

Harold is obsessively tied to his strict routine and timing, symbolized by his heavy reliance on his Timex Ironman watch. The narrator specifically mentions the watch's ticking as a key element of his life. The timepiece ultimately plays a pivotal role in the film's climax and his fate.