The protagonist and narrator of “Malibu” is an unnamed man with bulimia living near Los Angeles, California. To collect unemployment benefits, the man has to fill out a form showing all the jobs he’s applied for. Since he’s not really looking for work, he makes up a phone number and uses it for all the made-up jobs he puts on the form. Later, he tries calling the number just to see who might answer, and in this way he meets Terri, a member of the Chumash tribe who lives in Lone Pine and says she wants to get pregnant “so she’[ll] have something to think about all day” (37). Although the narrator warns Terri that he has acne, a rash, and bad teeth, the two make a date for dinner the next day.

The narrator’s only family member is an uncle he sometimes calls when he feels desperate. The uncle is also unemployed but receives disability benefits. The narrator asks to borrow money from his uncle, but the uncle refuses and tells him to get a job. On the day of the narrator’s date with Terri, the uncle announces that he plans to leave everything he has to the narrator, as long as he promises to send his ashes to space.