“I d on’t know who I am without you” are the first words in the movie, indicating that the
protagonist in the film, a young boy with long brown hair and a sharp face, is in love.
The boy seems to be going through a tough time. He’s crying and singing
in his car while reminiscing about his moments with his girlfriend.
While he is wiping his tears while driving through a steep area, he almost
crashes into another car and swerves fast. The next morning, his mom asks why he has a bruise
on his forehead. She seems to be very concerned about him, telling him to stop driving late at
night. She wants him to be okay. He assures her that he is fine,
but leaves his breakfast telling her hes in the process of moving on.
But going back to his room, he comes face to face with a wall full of his pictures with Lyla,
his ex girlfriend. His head hangs low. Mark, the boy is seen to be hanging around town,
drinking and driving in his car, seemingly moving on. But during random moments he breaks
down crying, sometimes in his bed, sometimes while cleaning. Clearly, he is having a hard time.
His mother, who is unable to handle him takes some advice on how to handle him
from her sister. But it doesn't work out. She gives him a pep talk about how he should go
out of the house. She recommends talking to his childhood therapist, but he blatantly refuses,
as well as talking to his friends. Later, he randomly starts hearing Lyla
inside his head. The moment where she put hot sauce on a strawberry and had him taste it.
He remembers her smile and laugh and his heart starts beating fast in his chest.
He falls to the ground in agony and holds his chest. It seems
as if he had an attack of some sort. The next scene, Mark is at the hospital
discussing his MRI scans with a doctor. She tells him that there is a part of his brain
that is not working properly, and it is damaging the rest of his body, especially his heart.
She notifies him that he will suffer from memory loss and auditory and visual hallucination.
The more he experiences these emotions, the closer he may be to the end of his life.
Hearing all this surprises him to the point that he deafens all the noise around him. He
gets up to leave but is stopped by the very concerned doctor. She doesn't understand why
he doesn't wanna do anything about it, like go to a hospital, try to look for a solution.
But he simply thinks the outcome is and will be the same. He is ready to say goodbye.
Later that night, he goes to Brainie’s restaurant to see his friends that he
had been avoiding. They’re a little hurt by him disappearing from their lives and then
coming back without a warning. He suddenly tells them he’s dying.
They think he’s joking at first but seeing him tear up confirms it.
One of Mark’s hallucinations start again where he thinks back to the time he came
to the restaurant with Lyla and had a conversation about Lord of the Rings.
Mark’s friends advise him to tell Lyla that he doesn't have time left,
but he violently refuses at first, but they get him to agree to a party she is going to be at.
They go to the party, which isn't huge as his friend had said,
actually only has 10 people in it. Mark follows his weird friend Robin
to the piano and stops him from playing an out of tune piece.
Mark asks around for Lyla, but he is given the cold shoulder. Upon entering the bathroom,
he comes across the same girl he met that night outside Brainie’s.
She identifies herself as Rebecca and they have a relatable conversation. Robin leaves to look at
flamingos and leaves Mark and Rebecca alone. Later, Mark asks a girl named Trish why Lyla
isn't there, she tells him she moved to college. The news stuns him and his
heart rate increases rapidly again. Sitting outside, Mark remembers Lyla and
tells his friend he remembers every moment with her except the one where she left.
It is highly likely that the memory traumatized him so much he forgot it ever happened.
Either that or he is starting to get amnesia. His friends give him the idea of going on a road
trip to Lyla’s college. When he refuses, his friend asks him if he is ready to die,
without finding out why the love of his life left him. With an unsure smile,
he agrees on the road trip. Next morning, Mark’s mom asks
where he’s going and he lies about going to Grand Canyon. He battles with hallucination,
seeing his mom up close and sees her crying, even when in reality she is not.
His friends arrive and they officially leave for the trip. The youthful young adults make the most
of this trip, talking and listening to music. In the car, Mark sees his and Lyla’s reflection
in the mirror and snaps at his friends to stop teasing him about singing a song to Lyla.
They hear a grunt from the car’s engine and get out of the broke down car.
They start walking but Ira wants to have a conversation about how this is a bad idea.
Ira continues by saying she has no idea why Mark is so hung up on a girl like Lyla,
there was nothing special about her. Mark argues back and tells Ira she sucks the fun out of rooms.
She counter attacks saying he runs away from hardships. They have a full on argument but
nevertheless continue walking. Mark almost gets run over by a car
in trying to stop him, and after a few attempts of asking the woman for a ride,
Robin finally makes friends with her. The friends arrive at a place called Paradise
Motel. Love struck Mark dreams about Lyla being in bed beside him again and wake up with a jerk.
He goes outside to the lobby of the motel but the receptionist is in a deep sleep.
Mark calls a mechanic through searching for numbers in magazines all night,
but much to his dismay, the mechanic says the repairs will take 2 days.
Preston teaches Mark how to bribe humorously with money if he wants to get his work done.
Mark tries it but he miserably fails. Rebecca surprisingly shows up. The friends are confused
as to who she is, but Ira tells shes her sister who she called over last night.
Mark convinces Rebecca to join them in the road trip and they set off again.
The friends stop by a Bar to grab a bite to eat. The place is weird with lots of shady
people and is overall quite trashy. Ira tells her friends her sister,
Rebecca is not part of a good company and she fights people a lot. Mark doesn't seem
to understand why Ira and Rebecca don’t get along when they're so similar. Ira clarifies
that there's a difference between standing up for yourself and tearing someone else down.
Rebecca has a conversation with Mark over a game of pool. She asks him why he likes Lyla,
and he replies by telling her she always pushed him to do things that scared him. Rebecca,
confused at his reply tells him that's not what love i, love is not supposed to be scary.
He excuses himself and plays one of his favorite songs. Seeing him dance and sing makes his friends
feel relieved and they join in. But when Rebecca sees them having a good time, she goes up to some
shady looking men and picks a fight with them. Mark goes up to help her and a fight ensues.
Punches are thrown all over the bar while Rebecca watches, drinking her beer smugly.
In the hospital when Mark washes his bruise, Rebecca tells him to
stop chasing Lyla because shes hurting him, he lets her know its the fight that hurt him.
Rebecca comes onto him and tells him shes the one who cares about him. Mark rejects
her and she rushes away, infuriated. Robin tells his friends that he saw Murphy,
the woman who offered them a ride to the motel at the bar. They request
her to help them get to their destination and much to their delight, she agrees.
Mark hugs Murphy and gets out of the car. The problem is, they do not have badges to
enter the college premises. But Preston, the smooth talker out of their group acquires 3,
while befriending a group of students. Mark, Preston, Robin and Kaitlyn are able
to get in, but Ira does not get allowed to get in. She tells them she’ll catch up and
gets ready to fight the security guard. The 4 friends strut into the campus and plan
to meet back in 20 minutes. They split up and run around campus, looking for Lyla.
Sensing danger, the friends tell Mark to run and he leaves. But it turns out, Ira got help from
another security guard who also knows Lyla. Mark who made his way inside campus comes across
several college clubs, he walks around in amazement but suddenly remembers that he has
to find Lyla and runs to the library. There, his friends and him watch Lyla kissing another guy.
Unable to believe his eyes, he tells his friends to leave but Lyla spots him and stops him.
However, the only thing she says is that it was nice meeting him.
Finally Mark has had enough and questions Lyla about the breakup. He cannot believe that she
left him for a douche bag. He screams at her and tells her she left him because of another dude,
pressing further by saying she never loved him. She tears up and bids him goodbye.
Mark leaves without his friends, who come back to the motel and lecture him on being a bad friend.
But Mark tells them to shut up. Preston picks a fight with him and gives him a reality check.
He reminds Mark that he forgot his dreams, his life and became a numb version of himself.
Later on, Robin comes into the room and puts something on TV. Turns out, it is
a recording of Mark’s conversation with Lyla. In the recording, Lyla is ecstatic about her and
Mark being accepted into the same college. But Mark refuses to go because he doesn't want to
leave his mom alone. Lyla tries to convince him to come along but he is rigid. In the next recording,
Lyla is about to leave and gives him one last chance, to which he backs away from her.
It is obvious why they broke up now. He is the reason they broke up.
While sitting outside, Robin gives Mark a pep talk. Mark is alive, but he is NOT living.
He does not go after his dreams, he closes himself off from his friends and does not
try to be a better version of himself. Robin tells him all his friends love him, but
for who he is, not for the safe version of him, he assures Mark that they are not going anywhere.
The next day, they set off to go back home, but on the way, all Mark can hear are the words of
encouragement from his friends, how he should stand up for himself. He takes a sharp U-turn
and confirms that he has to apologize for Lyla no matter what. His friends shout with
encouragement as they speed across the streets. They enter the campus, where a party is being held
and look for Lyla. Mark plans to sing for her one last time in front of everyone.
Backstage, he comes face to face with Rebecca who persuades him to have fun with her instead.
Mark sees his friends helping him out as much as they can, and realizes that it is
Rebecca who needs him. He refuses to give in to her weak words and climbs up on stage.
When all eyes fall on him, he is about to go down the stage again but Robin’s cheer stops him.
Mark grabs the mic and gives a really emotional speech about the beautiful trip he took and the
opportunities he came to face. He walks up the guitar and plays a beautiful melody.
The crowd cheers for him loudly. It is amazing to see such a shy boy put himself out there. He
walks up to Lyla and apologizes for never going with her. She hugs him tight.
After saying this is a much better reply, he leaves Lyla
confused as he falls to the ground with pain. He looks at his friends and Lyla through blurry
eyes, hearing their words of love and smiling. Mark wakes up in the hospital. He hears his mother
as soon as he wakes up. The doctors surround him and ask him some basic questions.
When asked what is going on, the doctor tells him that he was involved in a car accident
and has been in a coma for 2 weeks. He returns home and sees the trinkets
from his supposed trip with his friends. However, he cannot find any group chat
or photographs that proves they exist. Mark goes to see his therapist, Dr Nolan.
She tells him he can relax here. He starts talking about all the friends who were in his dreams: Ira,
Kaitlyn, Robin and Preston who all had their positive characteristics.
Dr Nolan already knew Preston’s name. At this, Mark seems confused. She tells him
that when he dealt with his father leaving, she identified different sides of his personality.
All his friends were different parts of him. To Mark, Preston was pride, Kaitlyn was kindness,
Ira was passion and Robin was the spark of craziness, and finally, Rebecca, destruction.
The next day, Mark leaves to go to the college of his choice. He continues his
dream of playing the piano there. Lyla watches him play from the door and walks up to him,
telling him, “You have found me.”