- A taxi cab drives into view, emerging from a cloud of steam. We see the taxi driver's eyes and the neon lights of 1970's era New York moving by outside, as the opening credits play, and romantic jazz alternates with the tense snapping of drums.
- After this opening credits sequence, we see the beginning of the driver's story. He walks into the personnel office of a taxi company and asks for work.
- He says he'll work anytime and go anywhere—he has insomnia and wants to work at night, since he's been riding around town anyway at those hours.
- The personnel officer acts a little hostile toward him, until the driver—Travis Bickle by name—says he served in the Marines. The personnel officer was in the Marines too, and his attitude towards Travis changes notably.
- We follow Travis through the taxi garage and back out to the street.
- In his crummy apartment, we see Travis writing in his diary. He reads what he's writing on the voiceover, explaining the kind of money he's able to make as a driver and the long shifts he's working.
- We see him driving around in his taxi, looking at what's going on outside. In the continuing voiceover, Bickle rants against New York, complaining about "the animals" who come out at night and infest the city.
- He hopes the rain will wash them all away.
- At the same time, he says he'll pick anyone up—Travis doesn't care about their race or anything. Soon afterwards, we see him picking up an apparent prostitute with a john.
- As he parks in the garage, he claims that he has to clean semen off the back of his cab's seat—and sometimes blood.