Harold Chasen is a young man obsessed with death. He stages elaborate fake suicides, attends funerals (usually for people that he doesn’t know), and drives a hearse, all to the chagrin of his self-obsessed, wealthy socialite mother.[4] His mother sends Harold to a psychoanalyst, sets him up with blind dates, and buys him a luxury car, all schemes he subverts in his own way.

Harold meets 79-year-old Maude one day while at a random stranger’s funeral Mass, and discovers that they share a hobby. Harold is entranced by Maude’s quirky outlook on life, which is bright and delightfully carefree in contrast with his moribund demeanor.