The movie opens at a police station, where a middle-aged man named Sy Parrish is in an interrogation room.
A cop named Detective Van approaches him, and says that his attorney will arrive in 30 minutes.
Detective Van also informs him that they developed the reels found in his bag,
and the pictures aren’t very pleasant.
The detective then inquires what Will Yorkin did to upset him so much,
but Sy does not respond and stares in silence.
The scene then shifts to a few weeks ago, where we see Sy, who works in the photographic
development lab of a department store called SavMart.
He is very passionate about his work, and has been doing it all his life.
Sy narrates that pictures reflect good moments in people's lives, because no one photographs
the moments they want to forget.
However, in his personal life, he leads a very sad and lonely existence.
Every day, he works to ensure that his customers receive the highest quality images,
but aside from that, he has no life or family.
In the next scene, we meet the Yorkin family, which includes parents Will, and Nina, and their son Jake.
They are seen having fun and celebrating Jake's 9th birthday.
Sometime later, Nina and Jake head to the SavMart to develop their photos, where they meet Sy.
Here we learn that Sy has been handling their photos since before Jake was born,
and he remembers their home address by heart.
So, even though he doesn’t know them on a personal level, he knows a lot about their
lives just by developing their pictures.
While looking through the camera rolls, Sy notices that there is one roll remaining,
so he takes his own picture.
He then goes to print the photos, and discovers that it is Jake's birthday.
Therefore, while handing out the pictures, he wishes him a happy birthday,
and gives him a disposable camera as a gift.
He also notices that Nina has just bought a book by an author named Deepak Chopra.
Later at home, Will is surprised to find a picture of an unknown man,
so Nina says that he is Sy, the man who develops their pictures.
Meanwhile, Sy is at a diner, creepily looking at Jake's birthday pictures that were printed for him too.
When a waitress asks if they’re his family, he lies that Jake is his little nephew,
and that he gifted him a camera today.
The waitress tells him that he must be Jake's favorite uncle, which makes him very happy.
Later, while sleeping, Jake tells his mother that he thinks Sy is a very lonely person.
He feels bad for him, and wishes he could have some friends as well.
Hearing this, Nina comforts him and assures him that Sy may also have a family to return to,
and that he may be happy in his life.
In the following scene, we see that the Yorkin family is not as perfect as they appear in their pictures.
Will starts arguing with Nina about her lavish spending, and how he has to work long hours
because of her lifestyle.
However, she tells him that he is a very neglectful husband and father who is never at home with them.
At the same time, Sy is in his home, feeding his guinea pig, and here we notice something unsettling;
he has pictures of the Yorkin family on his bedside table.
After that, he watches television in his living room, where he has been covering an entire
wall with pictures of the Yorkins for the past ten years.
He looks at the pictures and imagines himself as if he is with them and a member of their family.
The next day at work, Sy gets into an argument with the person in charge of calibrating the
developing equipment because it has a minor variation.
This is almost undetectable, but it annoys perfectionist Sy, who cannot compromise the
quality of his photographs.
Seeing this, his manager, Bill, confronts him about his actions in creating a scene in front of the customers.
Sy explains that he just wants everything to be perfect for his customers,
but Bill assures him that he does not need to worry so much.
Bill then suggests he take some time off for a vacation, which the latter agrees to consider.
Sometime later, Sy notices Will in the store.
He has never met the guy in real life, but recognizes him through the pictures.
He greets him as if they've known each other for a while.
Will is confused, so Sy clarifies that he's the one who prints their photos.
He then tells Will that he is fortunate to have such a wonderful family and a very beautiful house,
and that he should cherish it.
Unfortunately, this only weirds Will out, so he tries to ignore him.
At that moment, Sy bumps into Jake, who is admiring an Evangelion toy.
He begins talking with him, and even offers to buy him the toy.
But just then, Will calls Jake, and scolds him for talking to strangers.
Later on, Sy visits a flea market, where he checks out some old photographs,
and decides to buy a picture of a vintage woman.
He even buys the book Nina bought a few days earlier and begins reading it.
Later, he drives to the Yorkin house and parks his car in front of the front door.
He enters through the glass door, and walks around the home.
When he sees his photo on the fridge, he becomes very happy.
Sy then uses the house as if its own.
He takes a dump in the bathroom, before changing into Will’s clothes.
He then grabs a beer, and watches a game while chatting with the family dog.
Not long after, the family comes home, and Sy begins to panic, but surprisingly,
none of them appear alarmed by his presence, and they greet him as if it's normal for him to be there.
However, we notice that Sy is still in his car, and that everything was just in his imagination.
The following day, a woman named Maya comes to the store to develop a roll of photos.
Sy asks if she has come here before, because he finds her face familiar,
but Maya claims that it’s her first time here.
Later, Sy goes to watch Jake's soccer practice.
The man approaches him after the match, and he lies that he was just passing by and happened
to meet him by chance.
Sy thinks that the coach is too hard on the boys, and offers to talk to him if Jake wants,
but the kid assures him that it’s okay.
As they walk together, Jake reveals that his father never attends his matches because he's
always busy with work.
However, Sy comforts him by saying that his father works very hard,
so that he and his mother can have everything they want.
Sy then talks about his childhood; he used to be an unpopular fat kid that everyone bullied,
was often sick with mono or hepatitis, and broke his collarbone when falling out of a tree.
After the small chit chat, Sy surprises Jake with the Evangelion toy,
which he had admired at the store.
The little boy is happy to see this, but he politely refuses, saying his parents won't allow him to have it.
The following day, we see Nina at the mall, and it turns out Sy is there too, following her,
and he pretends to sit at the table next to hers by coincidence.
He strikes up a conversation with her, saying he came here for shopping and happened to see her.
He tries to talk with her further, but she seems uninterested.
As she’s about to leave, Sy pulls out the book by Deepak Chopra and begins reading.
When Nina notices this, she is surprised and says she is also reading the same book.
They then discuss the book for a while, and Nina inquires about his family,
and he replies that he has never married and has no girlfriend.
Taking advantage of the moment of trust, he shows her the picture he bought at the flea market,
and claims that this is his mother.
In the next scene, Sy is at work when Bill summons him to his office.
After verifying the data, he informs Sy that he found a significant disparity between the
number of copies sold and those created.
He inquires where all the missing pictures are, but Sy says he doesn't know and blames
it on technical issues.
Bill of course doesn’t believe this, and claims that Sy seems disturbed these days.
He explains that Sy takes a 90-minute break, and gives gifts to customers without permission,
and now there are printing discrepancies.
Because of all this, he regretfully fires him from his job.
A distraught Sy tries to explain himself, but Bill asks him to clear out his locker
by the end of the week.
In the aftermath, Sy is deeply hurt, and he cannot focus on his work.
Later on, Nina and Jake arrive to develop photos from the camera he had gifted them earlier,
but he barely pays any attention to them, which Nina finds odd.
When he can't recall their address, she gets worried and asks if he’s okay,
but Sy assures her that he is fine.
Soon after, he sits in a corner in the processing room, holding the final set of pictures he
will ever see from the Yorkin family.
He’s crying as he looks over them to enjoy all the little silly things Jake took photos of.
Upon reaching home, Sy suddenly recalls something, and goes through the pictures of the Yorkins.
He uses a magnifying glass, and then discovers that Maya is in one of the photos.
Curious, he goes to his workplace in the middle of the night, and checks out the pictures given by her.
While going through them, he unexpectedly sees Will in the photos, and realizes that
he's having an affair with her.
This deeply hurts him, as he had really admired the Yorkin family.
The next day, he deliberately places the pictures of Will and Maya into the packet of Nina.
An upset Sy packs his stuff and prepares to leave his work, and since he has been there
for a long time, the younger clerk Yoshi, thanks him for teaching him work.
Sy asks him to make him proud, and then he exits the store premises,
but not before stealing a hunting knife.
Afterwards, Sy waits in the parking lot for Nina and Jake to arrive and pick up the photos.
Once they leave the store, he covertly follows them in his car.
Soon, Nina recklessly pulls over on the side of the road;
it turns out Nina just saw the pictures of Will and Maya, which shocks her.
Little Jake also sees the pictures and becomes devastated.
After that, they head home, and Sy follows them to see what happens;
he sits on the street near the house and notices their seemingly normal family dinner.
Even after waiting for a while, Nina doesn’t confront her husband, and this enrages Sy.
Upon reaching his home, he vents his frustration by scratching the photos on his wall.
The following day, despite being dismissed, Sy goes back to Savmart to develop some photos.
Bill is upset to see him and informs him that he's not allowed there, but Sy speaks loudly
in front of everyone, claiming that he's here as a customer.
Eventually, Bill tells him that this is the last time he will let him in,
and warns him not to come back again.
After leaving his reel to be developed, Sy begins following Will, who is heading to spend
time with Maya at a hotel.
Elsewhere, an anxious Yoshi comes to see Bill with Sy’s pictures.
When the store manager looks at the pictures, he is horrified to find that they are of his daughter.
Alarmed, he quickly contacts the police.
Not long after, Detective Van arrives, and after hearing the whole situation,
he informs Bill that they take these threats very seriously.
They are both confused as to why Sy left those reels here, knowing that the police would
come after him.
Following this, the police send a patrol to Sy's apartment to arrest him.
Upon reaching there, they find the house empty, but are shocked to see his wall covered with
pictures of the Yorkin family, with Will's face crossed out in each one.
In the meantime, Sy is at the hotel, where Will and Maya are having fun;
he calls them, pretending to be room service, and figures out their room number.
He then books another room for him on the same floor.
Shortly after, he goes to their room, saying he’s one of the cleaners.
But as soon as they open the door, he barges in, and threatens them with the hunting knife.
Will then offers him money, but Sy refuses and forces them to undress.
Meanwhile, the cops arrive at the Yorkin residence; they want to speak with William,
but Nina says William went for an urgent meeting.
They inform her of the situation, and speculate that her husband might be in danger.
Shocked, Nina contacts Will’s office and asks to speak with him,
but his assistant claims that he is in a meeting.
Nina tells Will's assistant that she knows about the affair, and threatens him to give Will's address.
Meanwhile, Sy holds the couple at knifepoint and directs them to perform an intimate session.
He orders them to pretend like they are hugging, kissing, and getting into inappropriate positions on the bed.
He wants to capture the idea of the deeds, and he gets angry when they can’t muster
up a smile, while saying it's supposed to be a fun game.
In the next scene, Sy returns to his room, where he washes himself,
lies down on his bed, and takes some photographs.
Meanwhile, the police also arrive at the hotel, and when they show Sy's picture to the receptionist,
they discover that he checked in not long ago.
They immediately proceed to his room, but find no one there except a knife, and a camera.
It turns out Sy had learned about their arrival, and managed to outsmart them.
He flees from there, making his way to a convention room, and later to the kitchen.
After this, he finally succeeds in getting outside, but when he opens an emergency door,
it activates an alarm…
By the time he makes it outside, the police quickly arrive and corner him.
As they arrest him, Sy tells the cops that he just wanted to take some pictures.
Meanwhile, other police officers visit the room occupied by Will and Maya.
Maya is curled up in the shower; both of them are safe, but very traumatized by what just happened.
Afterwards, the police take Will back to his house, where Jake rushes to hug him.
Nina is upset by his actions; however, she is relieved that her husband is safe,
and doesn't know what to think.
Back in the present, Detective Van is still confused why Sy did all of this,
and the latter inquires if Van has a family, but the detective says it's none of his business.
Sy tells him that based on how he has treated him and seeing his ring,
he believes he is a decent husband, and maybe a good father as well;
not the type of father who would force his children to do inappropriate things and photograph them.
This implies that Sy’s own father was abusive during his childhood,
and he used to take disturbing pictures of him.
Due to this, Sy was never able to get past his trauma and form any relationships.
Therefore, Sy idolized the Yorkin family since they were the kind of family he had always wanted,
but when he discovered that Will was cheating on his wife, his illusion was destroyed.
So he decided to teach him a lesson for not being a good husband and a father.
Hearing all this, Detective Van says that he understands everything now,
and thanks him for answering his questions so sincerely.
Sy then requests to see his photos, and Van agrees.
Our creepy guy then places the pictures on the table, which shows various elements of his hotel room
instead of Will and Nina's pictures.
This means he never actually took any pictures of them, but only pretended to do so.
He just wanted to psychologically torture them, and he feels that this incident will
make Will Yorkin realize his mistake.
In the final scene, there's an image of Sy with the Yorkin family,
and the Yorkins seem comfortable with his presence.
But as we are aware, this is just another figment of Sy's imagination and it didn't actually happen.