A Serious Man begins with a simple yet bold quote: "Receive with simplity everything that happens to you" Larry Gnopnik's life is about to spin out of control and the Coen Brothers refuse to let up on the confusion. After a confrontation between an Asian student who believes his grade is unfair, Larry then receives a wad of cash which he assumes it as a bribe. He later learns he is up for tenure, but negative rumors are swirling around the college.
Larry then learns that his wife is leaving him for his friend and that he unknowingly racked up fees in the Columbia Record club. With all these issues arising Larry aims to find answers from his Rabbi, who ends up taking him on an absurd story about a dentist who looks for meaning after finding Hebrew letters engraved in the teeth of a patient. The story ends up going no where. "Who cares?" says the Rabbi.
