Based on the 1962 novel by American literary icon Jack Kerouac, Big Sur recounts the events surrounding Kerouac's three brief sojourns to a cabin in Bixby Canyon, Big Sur, owned by Kerouac's friend and fellow Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The story departs from Kerouac's previous fictionalized autobiographical series in that the self- inspired character is shown as a popular, published author; Kerouac's previous works are restricted to depicting Kerouac's days as a bohemian traveler