Replay

Jeff Winston, a 43-year-old radio news director in a failing marriage, dies of a heart attack in his New York office on October 18, 1988. He awakens as his 18-year-old self in his dorm room at Emory University in May 1963. Disoriented, he encounters his roommate, Martin Bailey, who in Jeff's original life died by suicide. After exploring the familiar campus and a much-changed downtown Atlanta, Jeff sees his young reflection in a mirror and is forced to accept his new reality. He navigates his old college life, upsetting his girlfriend, Judy Gordon, by missing a date. A phone call to his parents reveals they are now his own age. Feeling disconnected from his past, Jeff decides to use his knowledge of the future to get rich.

Remembering that a long shot named Chateaugay wins the 1963 Kentucky Derby, Jeff sells his possessions and borrows money to place a large bet. He enlists an older student, Frank Maddock, to act as his proxy, and they win nearly $17,000. Jeff and Frank become partners, moving to Las Vegas, where Jeff begins a hedonistic affair with a woman named Sharla Baker. They win again on the Belmont Stakes and then amass a fortune of over $12 million by betting on the Los Angeles Dodgers to sweep the 1963 World Series. They found an investment firm, Future, Inc., which Jeff guides to immense success using his foreknowledge. Frank, however, grows fearful of Jeff's inexplicable insights. In November 1963, Jeff tries to prevent President Kennedy's assassination by mailing a threatening letter in Lee Harvey Oswald's name, leading to Oswald's arrest. Kennedy is assassinated anyway by a different man, Nelson Bennett. Terrified by Jeff's trip to Dallas, Frank dissolves their partnership. Jeff ends his shallow relationship with Sharla and, in 1968, tries to reconnect with his original wife, Linda, on the day they first met. His wealth and intensity frighten her, and she rejects him. He enters a loveless marriage with a socialite, Diane, and they have a daughter, Gretchen, who becomes the center of his life. He also uses his wealth to ensure Martin Bailey avoids his original fate. On October 18, 1988, despite a recent medical exam confirming his perfect health, Jeff dies of a second heart attack.

Jeff awakens in 1963, this time in a movie theater with Judy and Martin. Devastated by the loss of his daughter, he forgoes the pursuit of wealth and instead focuses on building a stable life with Judy. To avoid the pain of creating and losing another child, he has a vasectomy. He and Judy marry in 1968, adopt two children, April and Dwayne, and live a quiet, happy, upper-middle-class life. In October 1988, knowing his death is imminent, Jeff checks into a hospital, but he dies of a heart attack despite medical intervention. He awakens again in 1963, enraged and hopeless. He abandons Judy, wins money on the Derby, and takes Sharla to Paris. Their life descends into a spiral of alcohol, drugs, and group sex. Jeff confides his secret to a French woman named Mireille, but on a 1965 flight, Sharla reveals that Mireille betrayed him and their friends have been mocking him. Moments later, the plane's engine explodes. After a harrowing emergency landing, Jeff walks away from Sharla for good.

In his fourth life, Jeff buys an isolated farm in Montgomery Creek, California, and lives as a hermit. In 1974, he sees a blockbuster film, Starsea, which he knows did not exist in his previous lives. He realizes its writer and producer, Pamela Phillips, must be another “replayer.” He tracks her down and proves he is like her by revealing his knowledge of future films. Pamela confirms she also dies in October 1988 and has been replaying her life, once as a doctor and once as an artist married to actor Dustin Hoffman. They become lovers and discover their replays are starting later each time, a phenomenon they call the "skew." Fearing the skew will eventually prevent one of them from returning, they place ads worldwide to find other replayers. They receive a response from Stuart McCowan, a serial killer confined to a psychiatric hospital who believes aliens force the cycles for entertainment. Horrified, Jeff and Pamela leave and later devise a plan to use heroin to ensure their next deaths are painless.

Jeff awakens in December 1964, having lost 17 months. Pamela awakens in March 1968, having lost three and a half years. After reuniting, they decide to go public to seek scientific help. They publish an ad predicting 14 major world events, and a year later, with all predictions correct, they hold a press conference. Their actions save hundreds of lives. A government agent, Russell Hedges, forces them into "protective custody," demanding intelligence. Information they provide leads to unforeseen and violent geopolitical consequences, which sparks the creation of a new, more violent terrorist group. The world timeline diverges completely, rendering their foreknowledge useless. Wracked with guilt over the global chaos they have caused, Pamela ends her relationship with Jeff, and they live as prisoners until they die in October 1988.

In his sixth replay, Jeff awakens in 1968, having lost five years. He reunites with Linda, and they build a happy life together while he becomes a successful author. Pamela awakens in 1975, having lost 12 years, and finds herself back in her original life with her husband and children. They meet but agree their family commitments must come first. In his seventh replay, Jeff awakens in 1976, leaves his now-unhappy marriage to Linda, and moves to his farm to wait for Pamela. She awakens in 1984, having lost nearly 21 years, leaves her husband, and brings her children to live with Jeff. They have three happy years together before they die.

Jeff awakens in April 1985, having lost nearly 17 years. He knows Pamela's skew is now too great for her to return in this cycle. Grieving, he seeks out the version of Pamela from this timeline, a housewife with no memory of him, and they begin an affair. On October 13, 1988, five days before their deaths, this Pamela experiences a sudden, unexplained episode and suddenly regains all her memories. Horrified, she accuses Jeff of manipulating her and flees. Jeff dies alone and is caught in a terrifying, rapid loop of his final moments.

The loop breaks. Jeff finds he has survived the heart attack in his original 1988 life. The clock reads 1:07 PM. He calls Pamela's home and discovers she has also survived and remembers everything. They are both back in their original lives, with all the memories of their alternate existences. Realizing the future is now unknown for the first time, Jeff is thrilled by the endless, unpredictable possibilities.