Professor James Murray begins work compiling words for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in the 19th century, and receives over 10,000 entries from a patient at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, Dr. William Minor.
The film is about the famous professor, Sir James Murray (Mel Gibson), who in 1857 began compiling the Oxford English Dictionary and led the overseeing committee and Dr. William Chester Minor (Sean Penn), a doctor who submitted over 10,000 entries while he was undergoing treatment at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.
Minor had arrived in the UK seeking asylum from the US. in the US he was an ex-army surgeon and was convinced that he was being stalked and one night, pursued and killed an innocent civilian, whom his mistook for this stalker. At his trial, Minor is borderline Psychotic and is sentenced to a criminal lunatic asylum.Sir James Murray is commissioned by the Oxford press to compile the English Dictionary. Frederick James Furnivall (Steve Coogan) is a Language academic at the press and fights vigorously against his fellow professors to get Murray this commission as they do not think highly of his academic pedigree. Murray is a linguist and proficient in many languages.
Dr. Richard Brayne (Stephen Dillane) studies Minor's habits at the Asylum. Frederick wants Murray to catalog every single word of the English language, with its modification, twists, nuances, pronunciation and so on. The task is gigantic. Murray suggests enlisting an army of mass everyday users of the language to read through English literature and send across entries for the dictionary in a prescribed format. Ada Murray (Jennifer Ehle) is a bit miffed that her husband Murray has decided to invest the next 7 yrs of his life on his endeavor. Henry Bradley (Ioan Gruffudd) and are enlisted to assist Murray in his mammoth task.
Murray types up a public appeal which is inserted in all books in all libraries in the UK and all its colonies, inviting entries for the new dictionary.Meanwhile at the Asylum, Minor saves a prison guards life by performing a leg amputation when it is pinned under the spikes of an overhead gate. Brayne commends Minor for his bravery. Minor asks that Brayne looks out for his stalker (a man with a black birthmark on his face) and pleads Brayne to pay his pension to the widow of the man he murdered Eliza Merrett (Natalie Dormer). Chief guard of the prison Muncie (Eddie Marsan) takes the offer personally to Eliza, as a way of saying thank you to Minor for saving his guard's life. But Eliza rejects Minor's offer, despite the fact that she is reduced to prostitution to feed her family.
it is revealed that the man Minor fears is a deserter who Minor branded with a "D" with a burning iron on his face. Minor imagines that the man is stalking him. as part of the treatment, Brayne allows for lights to be left open in Minor's room and allows him access to his books. Muncie gifts a new book to Minor, which has Murray's appeal inserted in it. Minor is scared by the challenge posted by Murray and takes it up.
Meanwhile Muncie pleads Eliza to take Minor's pension, and she wants to look him in the eye. Eliza meets Minor and decides to accept the pension.Philip Lyttelton Gell (Laurence Fox) is another academic who interrupts Murray's work to tell him that the British crown thinks its taking far too long and Gell has a list of suggestions for Murray to reduce the scope of his work. Murray rejects Gell's suggestions and carries on.
In time he receives the first 1000 words from Minor and an offer to help him with the most difficult words that he is stuck on. soon Murray is able to publish the first volume and soon after he visits Minor and thanks him for all his contributions so far. Meanwhile Eliza also thanks Minor for his help for her kids. Minor starts educating Eliza to improve her earning prospects and so she can educate her kids.
Murray is awarded a doctorate by Oxford. Eliza falls in love with Minor and even kisses him on one of her visits. But Murray is consumed by guilt and even more so, as he thinks he has desecrated a dead man's memory. He castrates himself.
Meanwhile Gell again attacks Murray by saying that a common everyday word was missing from volume 1. Frederick takes responsibility for that omission to save Murray's job. Frederick resigns to save Murray and have him continue the work. But eventually the press figures out that a large part of the oxford dictionary was contributed by a murderer. Murray is stripped of editorship and Minor is stripped of all acknowledgments in the dictionary. But now Ada steps in and appeals to the Oxford committee not to punish Murray and Minor for their passion and for their labor. The committee agrees.
Meanwhile Minor has gone borderline comatose, with Dr Brayne's treatment becoming more brutal each passing day. Elize and Murray team up to try and help him. They ask for Frederick's help who helps arrange a parole hearing for Minor. Brayne is severely reprimanded for his treatment methods, but the petition is still to be denied. So, Murray and Frederick petition Winston Churchill (Brendan Patricks), who is the home secretary. Murry makes a passionate plea and while Churchill can't release Minor, he agrees to deport him back to the US. Murray is re-instated as the head of the dictionary and Gel is told to take a hike.
Murray died in 1915, when he was at the letter "T". He was knighted by the Queen in 1908. Minor was treated in Washington and diagnosed with Schizophrenia. He died in 1920, with dictionary at Vywer.The final dictionary had 12 volumes, 414,825 words, 1,827,306 illustrative quotations and was completed in 1928, 70 years after it was first conceived.
