Toby, a young homeless man, and paparazzo Les meet when Toby interrupts a crowd of paparazzi waiting to take pictures of pop diva K'harma Leeds (
Allison Lohman). Toby volunteers to go get coffee for Les and two of his colleagues. On his way back with the coffee, Toby is stopped by K'harma's agent from inside the building and asked to see if the photographers are looking. When he confirms that the photographers are looking away, the agent guide K'harma past Toby towards a car. The photographers catch on and rush the car, colliding with Toby and spilling the coffee he is carrying. Later that night, Toby approaches Les outside his apartment, scaring him. He claims that he was bringing his change back from the coffee run, but eventually admits he is homeless and asks to stay with him that night. Les relents, and the next day, Toby offers to be his assistant for free, and Les accepts. While being thrown out of a party that night, Les and Toby overhear a celebrity's agent mention his client Chuck Sirlon's upcoming
penile surgery. Toby writes down the address, and they show up there the next day. After waiting for quite some time, Les gets a shot of Sirloin which ge refers to as "
the shot heard 'round the world", although he only gets $700 for it. Les brings Toby to his parents' home for dinner, where he sees them ridicule Les for his work, which they consider to be tawdry and him a disappointment. Toby consoles Les and Les offers to take Toby's headshots free of charge to help him work toward his dream of being an actor. However, their partnership shows signs of distress after K'harma takes Toby backstage without Les, angering the latter. The next day, at Les' apartment, Toby gets a call from K'harma, who invites him to her birthday party. Toby agrees on the condition that he can bring Les along, making it up to him. At the party, Les breaks his promise to Toby not to take paparazzi shots and photographs K'harma with
Elvis Costello, getting him and Toby thrown out. Toby is extremely angry at Les, who feigns dropping his camera's memory card into a cup of coffee (unbeknownst to Toby, Les ejects his camera's battery instead) and offers to print Toby's headshots and show them to casting agents. The next day, Toby says his stomach hurts and that he cannot go with Les. After Les is gone, Toby tries to leave, only to find that Les has locked him in. He accesses Les's computer and discovers the pictures of K'harma and Elvis Costello from the party. Feeling betrayed, Toby escapes by unhinging the apartment door. Some time later, Toby has become a flourishing actor. Les repeatedly tries to contact Toby through his agent until Toby finally speaks to him. Les offers to apologize over coffee, but Toby declines. Toby professes his love for K'harma on film, which skyrockets his popularity. At home, the jealous Les comes across a vintage camera his father gave him with a concealed gun inside, and resolves to murder Toby with it. At a red carpet premiere, as Toby walks down the red carpet with K'harma, Les raises the camera and prepares to shoot him, but sees him kissing K'harma and stops. As he leaves, Toby sees him and calls him back. They shake hands, and Les takes a closeup shot of the smiling Toby. Les urges Toby to go, and Toby walks down the red carpet into the premiere with K'harma at his side. Les, although disappointed that recognition still eludes him, is happy for Toby. After the credits, Les is shown on an entertainment news show discussing his picture of Toby, which the interviewer refers to as "the shot heard 'round the world". ==Cast==