Big screen adaptation of John Irving's bittersweet novel. T.S. Garp's (Robin Williams) main ambition in life is to become a writer.

His unmarried mother, Jenny Fields (Glenn Close), brings him up single-handedly. After attending an all-boy prep school, Garp progresses through a series of sexual misadventures, eventually marrying his high-school sweetheart. They have children, but Garp is still not content, and the marriage begins to fall apart.