After a high profile missing persons case, 16 Lyle returns home unharmed. Heavily shook, his father sends him away to a therapeutic boarding school. There, he forms a bond with a staff member who helps realize the illusion of his life.

After a high-profile missing persons case, 16-year-old Lyle returns home. His father is visibly shaken, and Lyle is promptly taken to a therapeutic boarding school upstate called Lynnwood Cove. There, he meets his dorm staff and begins to form a bond with one of them. However, one day, Lyle decides to run away from the school. They secure him and bring him back, placing him in an isolation dorm away from the community. A day into isolation, Lyle's historically absent mother unexpectedly shows up for a visit. He declines, and a couple of hours later, he is released from isolation. Two days later, he repeats the same behavior, but this time, he is not moved to the isolation dorm. Instead, he is placed on a one-to-one basis. During a helpful talk with his dorm staff, Lyle seems to be making progress and getting to a better place as the weeks go on. However, during his second week there, Lyle gets sedated after refusing to go to bed. He then has a disturbing dream following the medication. The next morning, he reflects on some insights his father has shared with him in the past. David, the Campus Director, informs Lyle that he cannot go off campus for another three months due to his behavior. The following day, Lyle's dorm staff wakes him early to offer to take him to a local Starbucks for coffee and skip a few classes. He agrees, and they go on a walk. They arrive at the cafe, and Lyle goes to the restroom but never returns. Suddenly, a stranger taps on the dorm staff's shoulder. It's a friend from Lynnwood Cove, Marco. They used to go there together. Marco reveals that he used to be best friends with Lyle, and Lyle, in turn, realizes that he is the dorm staff-a younger version of himself. Upon this realization, Lyle (the dorm staff) leaves the cafe and goes for a walk. He visits a nearby beach and sits for a moment before getting up and running along the shore. As he runs, he comes across the same white carry-on luggage we saw at the beginning of the film. He looks down and starts to cry. Then, the credits roll.—Lawson Spolansky