Alison, a woman in her late twenties, has never had a relationship that progressed into love. She believes that she is innately “bad,” which prevents her from finding a relationship with a good man. 

One night, Alison visits her best friend, Neil. Neil and Alison have been friends since college, when Neil supported Alison through her eating disorder. After flirtation, they have sex, which Alison greatly enjoys. Neil asks her if he can take a picture of her giving him a blowjob. Alison is flattered and agrees, asking for a copy. The next morning, Neil tells Alison that he isn’t interested in a serious relationship. Alison accepts this and reports the night’s events to friends, who are impressed. The picture Neil took turns out to be terrible.

The next time they hang out, Alison asks to have sex again, but Neil declines and counters that they should stop hanging out so often. Alison sheepishly accepts, then wonders what she did to scare him off. Alison reports the development to her group chat friends, who express contempt for Neil. This implies that they were never impressed with Alison to begin with, but she shrugs off her suspicion that they are patronizing her.

Three months later, Alison is overjoyed to hear from Neil and agrees to meet up. She is surprised when Neil arrives late with an Asian woman named Cece. Suspecting that Cece is Neil’s girlfriend, Alison stalks Cece’s social media profiles in the bathroom and feels inferior. Despite Cece’s attempts to bond, Alison can hardly mask her contempt. She brings up the time she and Neil had sex. Neil abruptly leaves with Cece. 

The next morning, Alison reads an angry email from Neil, claiming that he and Cece are just friends and that Alison disrespected their boundaries. He accuses Alison of weaponizing her sadness to make it look like Neil was awful to her. Alison refuses to accept his criticism but writes a response to say sorry for her behavior. To her dismay, Neil does not also apologize. 

Upset, Alison rants to her group chat. They caution her against fixating on Cece’s race and suggest trying meditation, therapy, and antidepressants. Alison quips they would make her boring, but this insults her friends. Her friends recommend having a one-night stand to forget Neil.

Alison starts using online dating apps. She dates a range of men and ends up compiling a list of pet peeves. She goes on a date with an old schoolmate she once had a crush on, The Feminist, but the date is terrible because of how dull and deferential he turns out to be. He only performs engagement whenever Alison talks about her pain, but Alison indulges him. She has sex with him out of pity.

Believing that it is now too late in her life to form a meaningful connection with anybody new, Alison refuses to go out except for work. This has a detrimental effect on her body as she becomes physically weaker and bruises easily. Online, she sees that Neil and Cece are officially dating. Alison decides to prove she is better than Cece by outperforming her in a new post. Neil does not engage with the post, so Alison deletes it.

Alison decides that the key to outdoing Cece is to find something unique to base her personality around. She buys Pootie, a raven that has been trained to speak compliments but finds it unmanageable because of its sharp beak and claws. Alison turns to podcasts and briefly considers starting a podcast herself, but this causes her to realize the loneliness of podcasts. She turns instead to the American comedy series The Office.

Alison writes a list of everything she hates about Neil, but the entries only confirm Neil’s humanity and that she would have deserved him if she were better. She has a fantasy that Neil cannot leave her because there are no other women left. She weeps knowing that the fantasy will never come to pass. She rediscovers the blowjob picture Neil took and moves it to a photo album entitled “loser,” because it is the only proof that they ever had sex. 

Alison’s group chat organizes a potluck, which Alison volunteers to host. One of the group chat members is a woman named Na’amah, whom Alison has never met in person and who is in the late stages of pregnancy. Na’amah brings her young daughter with her but becomes concerned for her daughter’s safety around Pootie. Alison hides Pootie in her bedroom to reassure Na’amah. Alison becomes insecure when she hears all the incredible things her friends are doing with their lives. She, on the other hand, has nothing to report. The gathering is interrupted when Na’amah’s daughter accidentally releases Pootie. Alison tries to restrain Pootie, but Pootie wounds her hand, sending her to the emergency room.

When Alison gets home, she sees a large wet stain on the couch where Na’amah had been sitting. She confronts Na’amah on the group chat, and Na’amah apologizes for staining the couch. Alison tries to get her to pay for the couch’s cleaning, but Na’amah has not been receiving income while on strike. Alison’s other friends try to de-escalate, but this turns Alison antagonistic. She insults the entire group for being hypocrites in their resentment of men and for having superficial problems. Na’amah strikes back by pointing out that Alison’s biggest problem is that she resents Neil. The other friends side with Na’amah and leave the chat, alluding to the existence of another group chat that excludes Alison.

Alison’s social network enables her to see that Neil has become a travel photographer and is expecting a child with Cece. Soon, Alison receives an invitation to Neil and Cece’s wedding. Alison is initially sickened by the gesture, but then she reasons that attending might grant her closure. She goes alone and in a revealing dress. She is awkward and engages with no one at her table. 

Alison asks Neil if they can talk. She delivers a speech expressing her joy for him and her regret for causing problems. Neil answers that he has no ill will against things that happened long ago. Alison is stung by the idea that their sexual encounter is ancient history and by his willingness to dismiss their past. She asks him to delete the picture he took of her. Neil doesn’t remember what she is talking about, so she shows it to him. He panics, tells her that he deleted it right away, and walks away to enjoy his wedding.

Alison goes home drunk and miserable. She opens her empty group chat and laments that no one understands her and cares for what she’s going through. She feels newly numb to her pain. The next morning, she wakes up and realizes she left her doors open, allowing Pootie to escape. She resolves that her newfound numbness to pain can be the gift she offers to people, becoming a nothingness that will enrich their lives.