Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) is the eponymous 40-year-old virgin. A very well-meaning, highly neurotic, somewhat stereotypical nerd, Andy lives alone, collects action figures, enjoys video games, framed a poster of eighties rock band Asia, and his social life seems to consist of watching Survivor with his elderly neighbors.


Andy works in the stockroom at an electronics store called SmartTech. His co-workers include the affable David (Paul Rudd), who is tormented by memories of his old girlfriend Amy (Mindy Kaling); the burly Cal (Seth Rogen), a novelist and stoner; and Jay (Romany Malco), a self-styled ladies' man. When a friend drops out of a poker game, they reluctantly invite the withdrawn Andy to join them. Andy turns out to be surprisingly good at poker due to his free-time of playing the game online. When conversation turns to past sexual exploits, Andy desperately makes up a story, giving himself away when he describes the feel of a woman's breasts as "like bags of sand". When the others realize Andy is still a virgin, they resolve to help him lose his virginity.


Andy is at first reluctant to go along with them, but after a heartfelt talk with David, he agrees to give it a try. The gang’s efforts prove to be unsuccessful, partly because all three men give Andy different and sometimes contradictory advice. They take Andy to a bar, where Jay advises him to hit on drunk women, but this backfires when the girl Andy leaves with drives the two of them home drunk, wrecks the car, and vomits on him. Jay recommends that Andy get his chest waxed, but Andy finds it so painful that he leaves halfway through. (Steve Carell actually had his chest hair removed during the scene, and stated in an interview on Australia's Rove Live that the scene was unnecessarily painful because the waxers forgot to oil his nipples).[3] David gives Andy his "big box of porn" to help him "loosen up" sexually, but to no avail. They later go to a speed dating lunch, with no success, and at which David encounters ex-girlfriend Amy, sending him into a downward spiral of depression. Later, Cal advises Andy to be questioning when talking to women, (which makes Andy seem mysterious) and results in Beth (Elizabeth Banks), a bookstore clerk, taking a liking to Andy. Andy starts to open up, and as true friendships begin to form with his co-workers, Andy impresses his boss, Paula (Jane Lynch), with his salesmanship and she promotes him to floor manager.