Nate responds hyper fixates what he says so much he isn't paying attention when his girlfriend Penny dumps him. Years later, he puts on an interactive stage show, "Essence of Nate", where audience participants vote what he should have done at pivotal moments in his life. The real Penny is in the audience, appalled by how he taints the truth. Reality, flashback, imagination, and the show begin to blur, as Nate's obsession with control burns his bridges with the actors. Penny takes over the final shownight, and wins over the audience who votes to dump Nate.