Fever Pitch is a nonfiction memoir by Nick Hornby, an English writer, that details his obsession with the Arsenal football team. His father takes Nick to his first Arsenal game as a way to bond after leaving Nick's mother for another woman. Nick begins going to every game he can, and his interest soon becomes an obsession. He feels uneasy when he watches the games and learns that despair and disappointment are familiar feelings to football fans. Nick's dad moves out of the country, and Nick begins going to games with a boy known as Rat, the older brother of one of his classmates. They can't afford to sit in the good seats in the West Stand, so they stand throughout the games in a section called the Schoolboy's Enclosure. As a teenager, Nick attends an away match for Arsenal, and after watching the replay, learns he was on camera. He sees that he looks very serious watching the game, more than the other children around him. He realizes he was obsessed and obsessions aren't funny but doesn't learn to relax at games until he is older. Before a 1972 cup semifinal match, Nick meets one of the Arsenal players, Bob McNab. Nick also goes to see a final cup match in 1972. Leeds wins 1-0, and Nick doesn't understand how he could go through this again.

Nick Hornby turns fifteen and moves to the North Bank, where Arsenal's most vocal supporters stand. Nick Hornsby has his first girlfriend, Carol, but she eventually dumps him right before a game; however, he is thankful she helped him see there is a life outside of football. Nick enrolls at Cambridge University and attends some games of Cambridge United. He coasts through university without making much of a mark. He would like to write for a living, but as he didn't pursue writing for the college newspaper while in school, he thinks he doesn't have a chance to get a writing job. Arsenal loses two Cup finals in a row, and Nick feels stricken. He knows he needs to do something with his life and enrolls in teacher's college. Through his twenties, Nick falls into a depression and in his twenties, sees a psychiatrist because he's frustrated that he can't find a job he wants to do. Arsenal beats Tottenham in the Littlewoods Cup semifinals in 1987, and this lifts Nick Hornby out of a decade-long downward spiral. Nick gets a job with a trading company. Nick buys a season ticket for the seated section in 1989. He feels this is a sign of growing up. Nick begins to play football with friends on a regular basis. As he goes to Arsenal games as an adult, he feels like he has come full circle.