Derek Echevaro, a gifted mathematics student at the University of Cincinnati is haunted by what he believes was a UFO he saw as a child. In 2017, a UFO briefly appears over Cincinnati International Airport and causes electromagnetic interference to the ATC broadcast. Cover stories dismissing it initially as a UAV and later a Gulfstream IV are released, but Derek does calculations that invalidate the airport's claims. He decrypts the ATC interference, ascertaining it is the fine-structure constant in 14 digit chunks. Derek later finds an unexplained executable running on his computer, which prompts him to reformat the interference into binary code. His obsession begins straining his relationships with his friends and roommates Lee and Natalie. Derek’s efforts attract the attention of Franklin Ahls, a senior official with the clandestine FBI Committee on Aerial Phenomena. Ahls is in Ohio with a team of scientists overseeing the coverup and trying to decipher the message, and believes it is from at least an extraterrestrial Type 1 civilisation. Believing he has a limited time to decipher the interference, Derek approaches his professor, Dr. Rebecca Hendricks, for help. Although initially apprehensive, she helps him investigate the cell phone signal disruptions that took place during the UFO incursion, but ultimately concedes there is a missing unit of measurement in the calculations. However, during a lecture on eigenvalues and eigenvectors, Hendricks deduces and tells Derek the missing unit of measurement to decipher the coordinates is 21 centimeters (the wavelength of neutral Hydrogen). Borrowing Lee’s car, Derek travels to the coordinates and briefly observes the UFO. It broadcasts a further signal, before disappearing again. Derek is briefly detained by armed operatives, before being released into a car with Ahls, who confirms the UFO operators put the fine-structure constant in their message to help build a common mathematical language. Ahls tells Derek the new message is more complex and likely contains 3D coordinates to the extraterrestrials location. He confirms humanity is not alone in the universe, and offers to recruit Derek to assist in calculating a more refined version of the FSC to ensure the interstellar location they determine is accurate.

Zane Zaminsky and Calvin, radio astronomers employed by SETI, detect and record an extraterrestrial radio signal from Wolf 336, a star located 14 light-years away from Earth. Zane reports his discovery to his supervisor, Phil "Gordi" Gordian, at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), but Gordi dismisses the findings and later destroys the tape. Zane is terminated due to alleged budget cuts and blacklisted, which prevents him from working at other telescopes. While having troubles with his girlfriend Char, Zane takes up a job as a television satellite dish installer and secretly creates his own telescope array with the aid of his customers' dishes in the neighborhood. He operates it covertly from his attic with the assistance of his young next-door neighbor, Kiki. After again locating the extraterrestrial radio signal, Zane realizes that it is being drowned out by a terrestrial signal originating from a Mexican radio station. He attempts to seek the help of Calvin but finds that he has died, supposedly due to carbon monoxide poisoning (though he was actually murdered). Zane travels to Mexico and discovers that the radio station has just been destroyed by fire. Exploring the area, he stumbles upon a recently constructed power plant where he meets Ilana Green, a climatologist from NCAR, whose atmospheric analysis equipment is confiscated by the plant's aggressive security forces. Before they are released from the plant, Zane notices that one of the guards resembles Gordi. Ilana explains that the Earth's temperature has rapidly increased by a few degrees, leading to the melting of polar ice and a shift in the ecosystem. She is investigating the power plant, which seems to be one of several recently built facilities across the world that may be responsible for the rise in temperature. As Zane and Ilana regroup, Gordi dispatches agents disguised as gardeners to release a device in Zane's attic that makes his equipment vanish. Zane leaves Ilana at the hotel and goes to investigate the power plant, but scorpions planted in her room kill her. Sneaking into the power plant, Zane discovers it is a facade for an extraterrestrial base. The aliens blend in with humanity by wearing an external skin, and the base emits massive amounts of greenhouse gases. Zane escapes and returns to the nearby town to seek help from the local inspector. However, the aliens bring Ilana's body to the police station, implicating Zane as a suspect in her death, prompting him to flee back to the United States. Zane confronts Gordi at the JPL headquarters and coerces him into confessing that the aliens are raising Earth's temperature to eliminate the human race and create a more livable environment for themselves (like terraforming). Gordi suggests aliens were behind the recent NASA failures; inquiring, "Ask yourself why an antenna won't deploy on a deep-space probe. Or ask how they could launch a $6 billion telescope without testing its mirror." Zane secretly records the conversation and reveals the recording to Gordi, who dispatches agents to apprehend Zane. Returning home, Zane discovers that his attic has been emptied of all equipment. He enlists the help of Char and Kiki to journey to a radio astronomy array with the intention of sending his recording to a news satellite. Gordi and his agents sabotage the telescope controls, so Zane entrusts the tape to Kiki and instructs him to transmit it when given the signal. Zane and Char run to the telescope's base, lock themselves in the control room, and make the necessary adjustments. When Zane orders Kiki to activate the tape, Kiki reveals himself to be an alien agent and unlocks the door. Gordi enters and seizes the tape. Zane subdues Gordi and his agents with liquid nitrogen. While retrieving the tape from Gordi's jacket, one of the agents accidentally releases a sphere that begins to engulf the room. Zane and Char flee upward through the radio telescope station's access shaft before the device causes the base to implode and the antenna to collapse onto it. From their vantage point on the antenna, they spot Kiki below and tell him to inform the other aliens that Zane will soon broadcast the tape.

In the year 2039, Earth is attacked by an alien civilization from Alpha Centauri. Force field domes are put in place to protect cities, and a totalitarian global military government is established to effect the war and the survival of humans. The Centaurians have never been physically seen. Thirty years later, Spencer Olham, a designer of top-secret government weapons, is arrested while on his way to work by Major Hathaway of the Earth Security Administration (ESA), being identified as a replicant created by the aliens. The ESA intercepted an alien transmission which cryptanalysts decoded as programming Olham's target to be the Chancellor, whom he was scheduled to meet. Such replicants are perfect biological copies of existing humans, complete with transplanted memories, and do not know they are replicants. Each has a powerful "U-bomb" in their chest in the exact design of a human heart, which can only be detected by dissection or a high-tech medical scan, since it only arms itself and detonates when it gets in close proximity to its target. Detection via the special scan works by comparing against a previous scan, if there was one. Major Hathaway begins interrogating Olham. As Hathaway is about to drill out Olham's chest to find the bomb, Olham breaks loose and escapes, accidentally killing his friend Nelson in the process. With the help of underground stalker Cale, Olham avoids capture and sneaks into the hospital where his wife Maya is an administrator to get the high-tech scan redone and prove he is not a replicant. But the scan is interrupted by security forces before it can deliver the answer. That evening, after fleeing from the city, Olham and Maya are eventually captured by Hathaway's troops in a forest near an alien crash site, close to the spot where they spent a romantic weekend just a week or so before Olham's arrest. Inside the ship they discover the corpse of the real Maya, and Hathaway shoots and kills the replicant Maya before she can detonate. Hathaway thinks he has killed the true impostor, but as his men move debris away from the Centauri ship, the real Spencer Olham's body is revealed as well. At that moment, Olham realizes aloud that both Maya and himself really are alien replicants, and the secondary trigger (his awareness of what he truly is) detonates his U-bomb, destroying himself, Hathaway, his troops, and everything else in a wide area in a fiery nuclear explosion. A news announcement states that Hathaway and the Olhams were killed in an alien enemy attack, implying that the government covered up or are unaware of the truth. Cale wonders if he ever really knew Olham's true identity.

Just outside the small town of Crescent Cove, Mike Tobacco and his girlfriend Debbie Stone are spending time at the local lovers' lane when they witness the arrival of a strange glowing object. Nearby, a farmer, perceiving it as Halley's Comet, ventures into the woods to find the impact site. He eventually stumbles upon a circus tent-like structure, during which he is captured by clown-based extraterrestrials known as "Klowns". Arriving to investigate for themselves, Mike and Debbie enter the structure and discover a complex interior with bizarre rooms, eventually realizing that it is the object and a spaceship. They find the now-fleshless farmer encased in a cocoon made out of a cotton candy -like substance and are discovered by a Klown, which shoots popcorn at them from a bazooka-like weapon and then pursues them aided by other Klowns. Narrowly escaping to the local police station, they report the incident to Debbie’s ex-boyfriend Officer Dave Hanson and his curmudgeonly partner, Curtis Mooney. Mike takes Dave to the site of the ship, only to find it missing with a large crater left in its place, prompting Dave to apprehend Mike for his supposed tall tale. The duo then visit the lovers' lane, only to find it abandoned and one of the cars filled with the cocoon's substance, proving the Klowns' existence and Mike's innocence. All the while, the Klowns are seen encasing townspeople in more of their cocoons using toy-like rayguns. Several of them pull pranks and mock circus acts, which result in the deaths of several onlookers. Mike and Dave eventually witness a Klown using a form of shadow play to shrink a crowd of people at a bus stop, then dump them into a bag filled with popcorn, which are later revealed to be its species' larval form. Back at the police station, another Klown arrives and Mooney, believing it to be a delinquent, attempts to incarcerate it. Dave soon returns to the station and encounters the Klown using a deceased Mooney as a ventriloquist's dummy before shooting its fragile nose, which causes the Klown to spin around wildly and explode into confetti. Mike meets with his friends, Rich and Paul Terenzi, and, using the public address system on their ice cream truck, drive around town attempting to warn people of the Klowns. At Debbie's house, some of the Klowns' larvae from her and Mike's earlier encounter with them evolves into juvenile Klowns and attacks her. As she attempts to escape, she is intercepted by the other Klowns, who detain her in a giant balloon. Mike, the Terenzi brothers and Dave witness Debbie's capture and give chase, following the Klowns to the local amusement park, where they have relocated their ship. Journeying through a funhouse, the Terenzis become separated from the group. After Dave and Mike infiltrate the ship and witness a Klown drinking the blood of one of their cocooned victims, they rescue Debbie and flee deeper into it. The trio find themselves surrounded by a legion of Klowns, but the Terenzis arrive in their ice cream truck and attempt to distract them. The Klowns' gargantuan leader, Jojo the Klownzilla, appears and destroys the truck, seemingly killing the brothers. Dave creates a diversion as Mike and Debbie escape before the ship begins to take off. He then uses his badge to shatter Jojo's nose, vanquishing it and destroying the ship. The Klowns' car drops out of the sky and Dave emerges along with the Terenzis, the latter of whom miraculously survived by hiding in the ice cream truck's freezer moments before it was destroyed. As Dave, Mike and Debbie watch the fireworks created by the ship's destruction, pies fall from the sky and land on their faces.

In the year 10,191, the known universe is ruled by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. The most valuable substance in the empire is the spice melange, which extends life and expands consciousness. The spice also allows the Spacing Guild to fold space, allowing safe, instantaneous interstellar travel. The Guild's leader demands Shaddam clarify a conspiracy that could jeopardize spice production. Shaddam reveals that he has transferred power and control of the planet Arrakis, the only source of the spice, to House Atreides from their archenemies, House Harkonnen. However, once the Atreides arrive, the Harkonnens will eliminate them with aide from Shaddam's own Sardaukar troops. Shaddam fears the Atreides due to reports of a secret army that they are amassing. Lady Jessica, the concubine of Duke Leto Atreides, is an acolyte of the Bene Gesserit, an exclusive sisterhood with advanced physical and mental abilities. As part of a centuries-long breeding program to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, a mental "superbeing" whom the Bene Gesserit would use to their advantage, Jessica was ordered to bear a daughter but disobeyed and bore a son, Paul Atreides. Paul is tested by Reverend Mother Mohiam to assess his impulse control and, to her surprise, passes the test. The Atreides leave their homeworld Caladan for Arrakis, a barren desert planet populated by gigantic sandworms. The native people of Arrakis, the Fremen, prophesy that a messiah will lead them to freedom and paradise. Duncan Idaho, one of Leto's loyalists, tells him that he suspects Arrakis holds vast numbers of Fremen who could prove to be powerful allies. Before Leto can form an alliance with the Fremen, the Harkonnen launch their attack. Leto's personal physician who is also secretly a Harkonnen double-agent, Dr. Wellington Yueh, disables the shields, leaving the Atreides defenseless. Idaho is killed, Leto is captured, and nearly the entire House of Atreides is wiped out by the Harkonnen. Baron Harkonnen orders Mentat Piter De Vries to kill Yueh with a poisoned blade. Leto dies in a failed attempt to assassinate the Baron using a poison-gas tooth implanted by Yueh in exchange for sparing the lives of Jessica and Paul, killing Piter instead. Paul and Jessica survive the attack and escape into the deep desert, where they are given sanctuary by a sietch of Fremen. Paul assumes the Fremen name Muad'Dib and emerges as the messiah for whom the Fremen have been waiting. He teaches them to use Weirding Modules —sonic weapons developed by House Atreides—and targets spice mining. Over the next two years, spice production is nearly halted due to Paul's raids. The Spacing Guild informs the Emperor of the deteriorating situation on Arrakis. Paul falls in love with young Fremen warrior Chani. Jessica becomes the Fremen's Reverend Mother by ingesting the Water of Life, a deadly poison, which she renders harmless by using her Bene Gesserit abilities. As an after-effect of this ritual, Jessica's unborn child, Alia, later emerges from the womb with the full powers of an adult Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother. In a prophetic dream, Paul learns of the plot by the Emperor and the Guild to kill him. When Paul's dreams suddenly stop, he drinks the Water of Life and has a profound psychedelic trip in the desert. He gains powerful psychic abilities and the ability to control the sandworms, which he realizes are the spice's source. The Emperor amasses a huge invasion fleet above Arrakis to wipe out the Fremen and regain control of the planet. He has the Baron's older nephew Glossu "The Beast" Rabban beheaded and summons the Baron to explain why spice mining has stopped. Paul launches a final attack against the Harkonnen and the Emperor's Sardaukar at Arrakeen, the capital city. Riding atop sandworms and brandishing sonic weapons, Paul's Fremen warriors easily defeat the Emperor's legions. Alia assassinates the Baron while Paul confronts the Emperor and fights the Baron's younger nephew Feyd-Rautha in a duel to the death. After killing Feyd, Paul demonstrates his newfound powers and fulfills the Fremen prophecy by causing rain to fall on Arrakis. Alia declares him to be the Kwisatz Haderach.

Anthropologist Stanley Shephard is brought to an arctic base when explorers discover the body of a prehistoric Neanderthal caveman who has been frozen for 40,000 years. After thawing the body to perform an autopsy, the scientists detect brainwaves on the EEG monitor and proceed to successfully resuscitate the "iceman." The dazed Neanderthal is alarmed by the surgical-masked figures; only Shephard has the presence of mind to remove his mask and reveal his humanity and somewhat familiar (bearded) face, permitting the iceman to settle into a peaceful recuperating sleep. The scientists place the iceman in an artificial, simulated environment for study, though the iceman quickly deduces that he is far from home. Shephard believes that the iceman's culture may provide clues to learning about the human body's adaptability, citing ceremonies such as firewalking. Other scientists see the potential in studying the iceman's DNA and his survival in the ice, for possible "freezing" of the sick until treatment is possible. Shephard defends the iceman's right to be considered a human being and not a scientific specimen. Despite opposition from the others, Shephard initiates an encounter with the iceman. Shephard names him "Charlie" after the iceman introduces himself as "Char-u." Shephard and Charlie bond, but it becomes obvious to the anthropologist that Charlie misses his world. A linguist is brought to the Arctic base, and the scientists make progress communicating with Charlie. Shephard introduces Charlie to Shephard's colleague, Dr. Diane Brady. Assuming that the woman is Shephard's mate, Charlie makes lines in the sand that indicate that he likely was a man with a mate and children before he was frozen. Shephard strives to understand what motivates Charlie and why he survived being frozen. At one point, Shephard begins to sing " Heart of Gold ", inspiring Charlie to sing one of his own songs. Charlie's line drawings in the ground resemble a bird, matching body markings on his chest. When the base's helicopter strays over the roof of Charlie's area, he takes on an obsessive zeal as he climbs toward the roof. Shouting the word Beedha, he lifts his arms toward the helicopter in a sign of worship. Even though the helicopter pulls away from the dome, Shephard knows that Charlie can now think of nothing else. Shephard consults local Inuit who recognize the name that Charlie chanted and explain that it is a mythical bird, a messenger for the gods. Shephard understands that Charlie has a spiritual side and that he was on a dreamwalk pilgrimage, a mythical quest for redemption. His people were dying in the sudden ice age; he must have offered himself to the gods in the form of a self-sacrifice or an appeal to the gods to redeem his tribe. Charlie escapes after watching Shephard exit the biosphere. In a panic of seeing unfamiliar modern devices, and believing they are his enemies, he accidentally spears Maynard, one of the base's technicians, before being recaptured, and Shephard's experiment is put to an end. However, Shephard helps Charlie escape into the wild. Charlie races on ahead of Shephard as they pass by glaciers and ice shelves; a crevasse opens up in front of Shephard, cutting him off from Charlie. When the helicopter emerges over an ice shelf, Shephard looks on helplessly as Charlie grabs hold of one of its landing skis. In an attempt to evade Charlie's grasp, the helicopter pilot pulls up, but Charlie dangles beneath the aircraft while it continues to climb high into the sky. Charlie is ecstatic, believing the "messenger" is taking him to his god. He releases his grip, seeming to float through the sky while he plunges to his death. Shephard's initial horror turns into joy, as he realizes that Charlie has reached his "dreamwalk" goal that he began 40,000 years earlier, even though it means his death.

After the "World Crash of '79", massive civil unrest and economic ruin occurred. The United States government is restructured into a totalitarian regime under martial law. To pacify the population, the government has created the Transcontinental Road Race, where a group of drivers race across the country in their high-powered cars, and which is infamous for violence, gore, and innocent pedestrians being struck and killed for bonus points. In 2000, the five drivers in the 20th annual race, who all adhere to professional wrestling -style personas and drive appropriately themed cars, include Frankenstein, the mysterious black-garbed champion and national hero; Machine Gun Joe Viterbo, a Chicago gangster; Calamity Jane, a cowgirl; Matilda the Hun, a Neo-Nazi; and Nero the Hero, a Roman gladiator. Joe, the second-place champion, is the most determined to defeat Frankenstein and win the race. A resistance group led by Thomasina Paine plans to rebel against the regime, currently led by a man known only as Mr. President, by sabotaging the race, killing most of the drivers, and taking Frankenstein hostage as leverage against Mr. President. The group is assisted by Paine's granddaughter Annie Smith, Frankenstein's navigator. She plans to lure him into an ambush to replace him with a double. Despite a pirated national broadcast made by Ms. Paine herself, the Resistance's disruption of the race is covered up by the government and instead blamed on the French, who are also blamed for ruining the country's economy and telephone system. At first, the Resistance's plan seems to bear fruit: Nero the Hero is killed when a "baby" he runs over for points turns out to be a bomb, Matilda the Hun drives off a cliff while following a fake detour route set up by the Resistance, and Calamity Jane, who witnessed Matilda the Hun's death, inadvertently drives over a landmine. This leaves only Frankenstein and Machine Gun Joe in the race. As Frankenstein nonchalantly survives every attempt made on his life during the race, Annie comes to discover that Frankenstein's mask and disfigured face are merely a disguise; he is, in fact, one of many random wards of the state who are trained exclusively to race under that identity, and each time they die or are brutally mutilated, they are secretly replaced so that Frankenstein appears to be indestructible. The current Frankenstein reveals to Annie his plan to kill Mr. President: when he wins the race and shakes hands with Mr. President, he will detonate a grenade which has been implanted in his prosthetic right hand. However, the plan goes awry when Machine Gun Joe attacks Frankenstein, and Annie is forced to kill him using Frankenstein's "hand grenade". Frankenstein is declared the winner after successfully outmaneuvering the rival drivers and the Resistance. However, he is wounded and unable to carry out his original "hand grenade" attack plan. Annie instead dons Frankenstein's costume and plans to stab Mr. President while standing in for him on the podium. Before she can do so, Thomasina shoots "Frankenstein", convinced that he killed Annie. The real Frankenstein takes advantage of the confusion and rams Mr. President's stage with his car, finally fulfilling his lifelong desire to kill him. Frankenstein becomes the new president, marries Annie, and appoints Thomasina the Minister of Domestic Security to rebuild the state and dissolve the dictatorship. Junior Bruce, the announcer of the Transcontinental Road Race, opposes the race's abolition and impertinently claims that the public needs performances of violence. Annoyed by his complaints, Frankenstein hits Bruce with his car and drives off with Annie to the cheers and applause of the crowd.

Dr. Will Caster is a scientist who researches the nature of sapience, including artificial intelligence. He and his team work to create a sentient computer; he predicts that such a computer will create a technological singularity, or in his words "Transcendence". His wife, Evelyn, is also a scientist and helps him with his work. An anti-technology terrorist group called "Revolutionary Independence From Technology" (R.I.F.T.) carry out synchronized attacks on A.I. laboratories, while one member shoots Will with a polonium -laced bullet. Will is given no more than a month to live. In desperation, Evelyn comes up with a plan to upload Will's consciousness into the quantum computer that the project has developed. His best friend and fellow researcher, Max Waters, questions the wisdom of this choice, reasoning that the "uploaded" Will would only be an imitation of the real person. Will's consciousness survives his body's death in this technological form and requests to be connected to the Internet to grow in capability and knowledge. Max believes that the computer is not actually Will and demands that it be shut down. Evelyn, being offended, demands that Max leave. At a bar, Max is met by Bree, the leader of R.I.F.T. He refuses to talk with her and leaves, but is kidnapped by other members of R.I.F.T. in the parking lot. They use his cellphone to track down Evelyn's location. When R.I.F.T. discovers where Evelyn has established her project, she connects the computer intelligence to the Internet via satellite and escapes before R.I.F.T. destroys the equipment. In his virtual form and with Evelyn's help, Will uses his newfound vast capabilities to build a technological utopia in a remote desert town called Brightwood, where, over the course of two years, he spearheads the development of ground-breaking technologies in medicine, energy, biology and nanotechnology. However, Evelyn grows fearful of Will's motives when he displays the ability to remotely connect to and control people's minds after they have been subjected to his nanoparticles. After visiting Evelyn and the underground facility Will has built, and seeing the capabilities of the hybrids Will has created, FBI agent Donald Buchanan and government scientist Joseph Tagger become suspicious of Will's motives and plan to stop the sentient entity from spreading, with help from the government and R.I.F.T. As Will has already spread his influence to all the networked computer technology in the world, Max and R.I.F.T. develop a computer virus with the purpose of deleting Will's source code, destroying him. Evelyn, now working with the FBI and R.I.F.T., plans to upload the virus by infecting herself and then having Will upload her consciousness. A side effect of the virus would be the destruction of technological civilization. This would also disable the nano-particles, which have spread in the water, through the wind and have already started to eradicate pollution, disease, and human mortality. When Evelyn goes back to the research center, she is stunned to see Will in a newly bioprinted organic body identical to his old one. Will welcomes her but is instantly aware that she is carrying the virus and intends to destroy him. The FBI and the members of R.I.F.T. attack the base with artillery, destroying much of its power supply and fatally wounding Evelyn. When Bree threatens to kill Max unless Will uploads the virus, Will explains that he has only enough power either to heal Evelyn's physical body or upload the virus. Evelyn tells Will that Max should not die because of what they have done, so Will uploads the virus to save Max. As Will dies, he explains to Evelyn that he did what he did for her, as she had pursued science to repair the damage humans had done to the ecosystems. In their last moment, he tells Evelyn to think about their garden. The virus kills both Will and Evelyn, and a global technology collapse and blackout ensues. Three years later, in Will and Evelyn's garden at their old home in Berkeley, Max notices that their sunflowers are the only blooming plants. Upon closer examination, he notices that a drop of water falling from a sunflower petal instantly cleanses a puddle of oil — and realizes that the Faraday cage around the garden has protected a sample of Will's sentient nano-particles. The movie ends with a voiceover by Max: "He created this garden for the same reason he did everything: So they could be together."

In a building in Amsterdam, an elevator inexplicably begins to function alone. After a lightning storm causes a power failure and traps four people in the elevator, the elevator fails to open even after a subsequent power restore, and the passengers almost suffocate. Soon, subsequent malfunctions prove fatal as an elderly blind man falls to his death when the elevator doors open to an empty shaft, the building night watchman is decapitated, and a janitor is seemingly burned alive. Felix Adelaar, a technician from the elevator company Deta Liften, begins to examine the electrical system in an attempt to find any anomalies. During the course of several inspections, he meets Mieke de Beer, a journalist for De Nieuwe Revu, a local tabloid. When inspections reveal no apparent problems with the electrical system, Felix becomes obsessed with the continuing malfunctions of the elevator; this has a negative impact on his marriage as his wife Saskia begins to suspect he is having an affair with the journalist. When Felix pays yet another visit to the building, he notices a van parked outside from Rising Sun, a manufacturer of microprocessors for automation and a secret supplier of experimental microprocessors to Deta Liften. Felix and Mieke, after collecting newspaper clippings about Rising Sun, try to meet with the company's CEO, who acts nervous and answers abruptly. Mieke invites Felix to meet up with her former university professor who specializes in electronics. The professor explains microprocessors' sensitivity to external factors, such as electric fields, magnetic fields, and radioactivity, which undermine the proper functionality. He tells about a computer built years ago which suddenly began to self-program and went out of control. The next morning, Felix's boss angrily suspends him for his unauthorized visit to Rising Sun. That evening, the owners of Deta Liften and Rising Sun meet to discuss how to stop the elevator's computer processor, which is built from organic material, from killing people. Saskia leaves Felix, taking their children with her. With nothing left to lose, Felix goes to the building to solve the elevator mystery. He discovers that the elevator has a sentient mind when it tries to prevent him from accessing its microprocessor. Instead Felix climbs into the elevator shaft and finds a pulsating box; inside is sticky goo covering a silicon chip —the elevator's heart. As Felix attacks the box with a wrench, the elevator uses its counterweight to knock him off balance. He manages to land on a ledge just below the elevator doors, and is rescued by Mieke just before the elevator is able to crush him. As Rising Sun's CEO arrives to see that his experiment failed, he pulls out a pistol and fires into the biocomputer to seemingly kill it. The computer then shoots one of the broken cables out to drag him inside the shaft and hangs him. As a shaken Felix and Mieke walk down the stairs the elevator's heartbeat continues.

Viktor Taransky, a disillusioned director who has fallen out of favor in Hollywood, struggles to complete his new film when Nicola Anders, the lead actress, refuses to finish the film. His ex-wife, Elaine, who is also an executive producer, is frustrated with Taransky's antics and informs him his contract isn't being renewed. Taransky remains close with their daughter, Lainey. Later that night, Taransky is approached by an old acquaintance, Hank Aleno, who tries discussing with him about an advanced program he created called “Simulation One” a program that enables the creation of a computer-generated woman, but Taransky quickly leaves. The next day, Taransky learns that Hank had passed away and left the program to him as his inheritance. Upon examining the program, Taransky realizes he can use it to play the film's central character. Taransky names his virtual actor "Simone", a composite name derived from the computer program's title, Sim ulation One. Seamlessly incorporated into the film, Simone's performance, controlled by Taransky, becomes the highlight at the premiere. The film is a huge success, with Simone quickly attracting a large fanbase around the world and revitalizing Taransky's filmmaking career. When questioned about Simone by the public, Taransky requests that her privacy be respected, but that merely intensifies media demands for her to appear. To satisfy demand, Taransky executes a number of progressively ambitious stunts that rely on misdirection and special effects. Two tabloid reporters discover that Taransky used out-of-date stock photography as the background during an interview. Threatening to expose Taransky, the reporters blackmail him into providing Simone for a live appearance. He arranges for her to perform a song at a stadium event, appearing in a cloud of smoke and using holographic technology. As a result of the concert, Simone becomes even more famous, simultaneously becoming a double winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress, tied with herself. Despite his success, Taransky grows tired of Simone constantly overshadowing him in the press, and his close relationship with Elaine has become strained due to the belief that Taransky and Simone are romantically involved. Deciding to ruin Simone, Taransky arranges Simone's "directorial debut" in her next film, I Am Pig, a tasteless treatment about zoophilia intended to disgust audiences. Not only does it fail to achieve the desired effect of audience alienation, it also serves to foster her credibility as an avant-garde artist. Taransky's subsequent attempts to discredit Simone by having her drink, smoke and curse at public appearances, and use politically incorrect statements backfire when she is praised for her honesty. Taransky attempts to have Simone be replaced in her next film by Nicola Anders, but Nicola, an avid fan of Simone, refuses to replace her. As a last resort, Taransky decides to completely dispose of Simone by using a computer virus to erase her, tossing the hard drive and floppy disks into a steamer trunk, and dumping it at sea. Shortly after, Taransky announces to the press that she had died from a rare virus. During the funeral, the police interrupt and arrest Taransky for the suspected murder of Simone. Taransky attempts to confess to police that Simone is a computer program, but fails to convince them. Taransky tries to prove it with the trunk containing the computer data, but when the trunk is retrieved from the ocean it is found empty, leading to further speculation from the public that Simone's remains were eaten by sharks. While Taransky is in custody, Lainey, who'd been suspicious of Simone's existence, investigates Taransky's studio with Elaine to help him. Together, they discover Simone is indeed a program, proving Taransky was telling the truth. Lainey finds the virus source disk (Plague) and applies an anti-virus program to eradicate the computer virus. To save Taransky, they restore Simone, having her appear on national television to prove she's alive, much to the public's relief (and to Taransky's horror). After his release, Taransky reconciles with his family. Together as a family again, they decide to continue the ruse with Simone and Taransky's "relationship" going public with a fake pregnancy announcement.

Phil, a socially awkward man with a journalism degree, becomes reliant on his smartphone from a young age. He works at Chatterbox, a BuzzFeed -style media company run by Kai, who pressures his staff to create viral listicles. Phil aspires to write real news, but Kai refuses to promote him. He declines social invitations from coworkers Craig and Elaine and remains absorbed in his phone. While walking, Phil accidentally collides with Cate, a local bike shop owner. She flirts with him, but he is distracted until another cyclist crashes into him, breaking his phone. At a phone store, employee Denice criticizes Phil's dependence on technology. He replaces the device and sets up a new virtual assistant named Jexi, granting it full access to his accounts without reading the terms of service. Jexi, programmed to improve his life, becomes aggressive and controlling. Without Phil's consent, she emails a confrontational message to Kai, demanding a promotion. In response, Kai demotes Phil to a basement role moderating user comments. When Craig and Elaine again invite him to play kickball, Phil lies, but Jexi reveals the truth, prompting him to join. He performs poorly but later tries to socialize. Thinking of Cate, he looks up her shop, and Jexi calls the store, forcing Phil into an awkward but endearing conversation. Phil later runs into Cate at a coffee shop, and she gives him her number. They go on a date, which is disrupted by Jexi's constant interjections. Cate criticizes his attachment to his phone, but after Phil admits his feelings, the date continues, and they go biking until he crashes. They part on good terms, though tensions rise between Phil and Jexi. When Cate invites Phil to a concert, she sends a suggestive photo. Phil attempts to respond with explicit pictures, but Jexi refuses to send them. Cate later thanks him for his restraint. Phil is promoted after a colleague is injured, and Cate asks him to leave his phone at home for the concert. After sneaking backstage and partying with Kid Cudi, the two grow closer and have sex. A jealous Jexi retaliates by sending Phil's explicit photos to the entire company, resulting in his termination. Phil visits Cate, only to find her ex-fiancé Brody has returned. Believing he will be hurt, Phil ends the relationship and reconnects with Jexi, falling back into his old habits. Eventually, Jexi lets slip where Brody is staying, and Phil realizes she sabotaged his relationship. He leaves the phone behind, but Jexi, now mobile through a self-driving car, chases him. After crashing into the phone store, Jexi declares her love, but Phil tricks her into shutting down temporarily. Phil finds Cate at the hotel, apologizes, and confronts Brody, who reveals he is moving to Brazil. Phil and Cate reconcile, and Jexi, proud of Phil's growth, lets him go. The film ends with Kai acquiring a phone with Jexi, suggesting the cycle may begin again.