The story is presented as a social media post written by Max, a futurist entrepreneur in his late thirties, who wants feedback from the online community. His writing style involves the frequent use of pop culture slang to show that he can relate to anyone.

After matching with Alison (from “Pics”, now in her early thirties) on a dating app, Max takes Alison to an omakase dinner. Alison doesn’t talk much, which Max interprets as a sign that she is stunned by the experience. Max tries small talk before asking about her biggest current problem in life. Alison shares about her eating disorder, her unrequited love for her best friend, and losing her entire social circle. Max then asks about her life goals, but Alison laughs at the question—she is unlikely to achieve anything more than health insurance. Max offers to help. At the end of the date, he uses his first startup app to hail a robot dog that will escort her home.

On their second date, Max surprises Alison with an all-expenses-paid trip to Barcelona. Alison hesitates to go because it will mean abandoning her magazine internship, but Max convinces her that the luxury is worth the risk. During the trip, Alison opens up: She struggles against who she is to be loved. Max offers her his love, which moves her to tears. 

When they return home from Barcelona, Alison loses her magazine internship, but Max reassures her that magazines aren’t relevant anymore. He offers to let her move in with him or to fund a new apartment for her, as long as Alison commits herself to working on their shared life goals. Alison is unsure about Max’s offer, but decides to take it when her lease expires.

As Max works hard to prepare an investor pitch for his new startup, Alison and Max have their first fight. Alison hates the meal-replacement shakes Max offers her in lieu of food—a product from one of his startups. Annoyed, he looks through her phone, judges her consumption of pornography, and installs his startup productivity app to keep her accountable to her goals. This upsets Alison, who explains that she is bored because they never go out. Max rebuts that she wouldn’t be bored if she committed herself, but Alison accuses him of pushing her to pursue only his goals. Max makes her feel guilty about taking advantage of his generosity and reinforces the idea that he is the only person in her life who actually supports her.

Alison becomes despondent. For several weeks, she performs being busy by repeatedly cleaning the living room media console. Watching her through a security camera, Max becomes concerned. Max uses his productivity app to remotely monitor Alison’s texts and send messages to her friends and family, assuring them that she is okay. When Alison’s loved ones ask to visit her, Max disables the tracking capabilities on Alison’s phone.

Alison asks Max to move into another apartment at his expense. Max backs out of the offer because his finances have dipped, so Alison accuses him of breaking his promise. Max counters that the relationship is one-sided—Alison has done nothing to support him. He shares his plan: retiring early at 40, starting a commune with Alison, and optimizing their children through rigorous homeschooling. He plans to operate their family like a business that exponentially grows until they have over 5 billion members. Max plans to prevent members from leaving or integrating into the outside world. The only thing stopping them is Alison’s refusal to commit to giving birth to his children. In response, Alison gives him a pouch that contains sculptures, hair, oil, grain, and a cryptic written message. Max decides to let her go. 

Max regrets that he couldn’t figure out how to help Alison. He asks the readers of his post to suggest what he could have done better.

Max edits his post several times in response to the online community’s reception. He denies that he kept Alison in his house against her will, that he hacked Alison’s phone, or that his life plan evokes Nazi thinking. He didn’t coerce Alison—after all, he was upfront about the conditions of his offer. He resents commenters upvoting negative responses to his post.

After finding new investors, Max invites like-minded individuals to follow him to his private chat server. Soon, he clarifies that he isn’t responsible for the racist and misogynist content that others post there. He insinuates that bad faith actors are planting these comments in the server to discredit him.

Alison posts her perspective of the events that Max has written about; Max’s other ex-girlfriends support her version. Max discredits their claims as an exaggeration of victimhood. He concludes that his forward-thinking is too big for the United States; in international waters, his investors will form a “Freedom Fleet,” which Max will use to execute his ultimate life plan.

In a final edit, Max, writing from the American Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, calls for help from the maritime law community. He has been apprehended by the Royal Thai Navy on suspicion of human trafficking. He claims that the women who joined his fleet did so consensually. His fleet is a crime against Thai sovereignty, which merits the death penalty. He asks why no one ever told him “no” if pursuing his goals was bad all along.