In Plymouth Island, Captain Dill takes out his ship the Serenity every day to try to catch a
legendary tuna fish that he's named Justice. His obsession with this fish is so extreme that it
gets in the way of his business: when Justice takes the bait, instead of passing the rod to
the tourists that paid for a fishing trip, Dill tries to fish it himself, ignoring the advice of
his sailor Duke. One morning, Dill goes as far as threatening tourists with his knife for trying to
take the rod from him, causing them to refuse to pay for the trip. The worst part is, after
lots of waiting patiently and struggling with the line, Justice escapes anyway. This whole fiasco
is watched from the shore by Reid, who is so desperate to reach Dill that he crosses the water
while wearing a suit just to come closer, yet he also fails to be noticed. After the trip is over,
the tourists leave without paying. Duke's worried that he won't get paid today, but Dill knows how
to get some money. He visits his friend Constance, and after having some fun together, she lends him
the money he needs. Dill takes the chance to ask about her son, because he's considering firing
and replacing Duke. Afterward, Dill goes for a drink at Jack's bar, then visits Duke to pay him.
He also asks him to come again next morning for another ride, but this time they aren't taking
any clients, they're just going after Justice. Duke thinks it's irresponsible to waste gas on a
leisure trip when they're short on cash, but Dill doesn't care: he saw Justice today, which means
it's near so they must try again. In the evening, Dill returns home and while drinking, he talks to
the memory of his son, apologizing for not failing to catch the fish again. At the same time Dill
remembers the days he used to spend with his kid fishing, his son Patrick is at his mother's home
finding pictures of his dad and going through the same memories. The next morning, Dill drives his
truck to the docks and doesn't notice Reid looking at him from a passing bus. Dill and
Duke go on another trip to find Justice but don't even get to see the fish, so when they come back
to the island, Dill accuses Duke of bringing him bad luck ever since his wife died. Duke gets fired
and leaves, and neither men notice Constance watching from her window. In the evening,
Dill goes to drink at Jack's, who thinks Dill should see a therapist but his advice is ignored.
Their conversation is suddenly interrupted by Karen, Dill's ex-wife who he hasn't seen in years.
Karen calls Dill "John" and asks her for a private place to talk. Dill takes Karen to his boat while,
once again, Constance watches from her window. Karen admits that Dill was right: her new husband
kept on drinking and became violent, hitting both her and Patrick. Dill tells her to get a divorce,
but she can't: her husband is a powerful man with many connections and wouldn't let her escape.
Whenever they fight, Patrick gets scared and hides in his room, keeping himself distracted
with computer games - his teachers say he's got a unique ability but he seems kinda broken down.
Patrick is precisely the reason why she's here, she wants to save him, and for that she needs
Dill's help. Her husband will be joining her on the island soon and she wants to organize
a trip on Dill's boat. She's willing to pay ten million dollars if Dill gets her husband drunk
during the trip and throws him to the sharks. Dill can't believe what he's hearing and kicks
Karen out before sailing away, not noticing Reid running towards the shore and missing him again.
When Dill returns home in the morning with lots of fish to sell, Constance is there waiting for him.
She wants to know more about Karen, but Dill refuses to answer her questions and goes for
a swim at sea instead. As soon as he falls into the ocean, Dill begins hearing voices:
Karen't husband yelling at her, and Patrick telling him there's something he needs him to do.
He also sees Patrick swimming with him, but when he tries to reach out to him, Dill wakes up at his
home's table and touches the wet surface. At the same time, Patrick is in his room coming out from
under the covers after playing his videogame and finding some spilled water on his desk as
well. Dill is shaken by the visions he had in his dream and wonders aloud if his son is out there.
That day, Karen's husband Frank arrives at the island. He wastes no time and joins Karen in
the hotel room, asking her to lose her robe so he can inspect her body. Frank finds a scratch
on Karen's leg and not liking what it may imply, he takes off his belt to punish her. Meanwhile,
Dill goes to Lois' fishing store to pay for what he owes and get some new hooks.
Lois tells him everyone on the island knows about Karen and the ways Frank has been hitting her,
she also informs him a man called Reid is looking for him, but Dill leaves without paying any
attention. When Dill makes it to his boat, Frank and Karen are there, and Karen calls him Mr. Dill
instead of John because Frank doesn't know who he really is. Frank complains about Dill's refusal
to take him on a fishing trip, so Dill turns them down again by using his lack of sailor as
an excuse since taking tourists without one is against the regulations. However, Frank thinks
everyone has a price and promises to return the next day at seven a.m. to go on that trip;
he also tells Dill to be there for him as he shows him the gun he carries with him before leaving.
Not caring about Frank, Dill goes sailing to look for Justice again. Once more, Reid arrives
at the docks too late and misses Dill, but when he looks at his watch, he notices something is wrong:
there appears to be a twenty-second discrepancy in his allotted schedule. Dill doesn't find
Justice today either, but he does get some good catches to sell at the market when he comes back.
Then, he spends the night with Constance, who insists on asking about Karen and tells him he
needs to choose between saving the lady or catching the tuna in his head. Afterward,
Dill goes to the market, where he's approached by Duke, who has heard the gossip about Frank willing
to pay ten grants for the fishing trip. He points out they really need the money: he needs to help
his grandson, the Serenity needs an overhaul, and Duke has learned from Constance that he was fired
out of pity, which he hates. This is a very unique opportunity that they can't miss, so Dill accepts
to take Frank on the trip under the condition Duke keeps an eye on his captain to deliver him from
temptation. The two of them go to the docks, where once again Frank and Karen are already waiting.
Dill talks to Karen in private to inform her he'll only take Frank fishing and nothing else,
so to try to change his mind, Karen describes the ways Frank hurts Patrick. She also tells him she
knows Dill talks to Patrick all the time, and that Patrick can hear him through his computer screen
because they're connected. Dill ignores Karen's request and goes on the trip with Duke and Frank.
While fishing, Frank tries to chitchat with them, and eventually lands on the subject of his
stepson. He calls Patrick creepy and complains because the boy won't come out to play sports
with him, preferring his computer instead. Frank thought Patrick was involved in something illegal
on the dark web, but actually, he's just playing a fishing videogame. Patrick told Frank that if he
didn't catch fish all day, he'd find a way to kill him, and Dill surprises himself by finishing that
sentence along with Frank. There's also talk about the fact there aren't any cops on the island,
but that conversation is interrupted when a shark takes their bait. Frank tries to reel the shark in
and slips on the deck, but Dill doesn't give in to temptation so between him and Duke, they help
Frank catch the shark. Karen is disappointed to see them come back with her husband,
and while Frank leaves to wash, she approaches Dill to pay him and tries to convince him to
change his mind again since Frank will want to fish again tomorrow. Duke overhears Karen telling
Dill that this was Patrick's idea and that their son needs him to do this because he wants justice,
but before the conversation goes further, Frank comes back and takes Karen away. A storm appears
on the horizon and is watched by Reid at the docks while Duke demands Dill to explain what the
temptation is about. Dill takes Duke to a bar and tells him the whole story: he used to be a soldier
named John, but when he came back from war, his mind was too damaged and Karen left him for Frank,
so Dill thinks he "never truly came back". When he hears about the ten million offer,
Duke reminds Dill he must catch the fish in his mind but not kill a man. After Duke is gone,
Dill goes to his boat to do some thinking in the rain. Suddenly, he begins hearing Patrick's voice
calling out for him while Constance watches from the window. At that moment, Karen shows up to show
Dill she hasn't gotten rid of the ring he gifted her because she never stopped thinking about him.
Then she kisses him, so Dill finally gives in and accepts to kill Frank in the morning, but
Karen must bring Patrick to him in exchange. Karen accepts and tells him she's still the same girl he
fell in love with, so Dill ends up getting busy with her right there on the boat and notices the
scars Frank left on her back, which prompts Karen to point out they're both damaged in different
ways. As soon as they're done, Dill declares he's beat Frank and kicks Karen out. Afterward,
Dill starts talking to Patrick since supposedly he can hear him, and promises his son he'll do
this for him so he can finally step outside. When Dill returns home, he finds Reid waiting for him,
who introduces himself as a salesman for a fishing supply company. Dill doesn't understand why Reid
has come at two-thirty in the morning for a sale, so Reid explains he's tried during the day already
and missed him every time. He also says he already knows Dill has a big day tomorrow,
because he knows almost everything about him. In his suitcase, Reid has the newest sonic fish
finder, and Dill can have it for free for one week as a trial. The finder will be particularly
useful tomorrow, and Reid is sure it will help Dill catch the fish because he is The Rules.
Dill doesn't understand what that means and gets more shocked when Reid asks him to catch the fish
but not to kill that man, so he threatens Reid with his knife until he explains why he knows
so much. While Patrick continues to play on his computer, Reid explains he's only playing
his part of the game because that's what Plymouth Island really is: just a game with many options,
and the creator's favorite is fishing. The rule is you've got to catch a particular fish, and
that rule is Dill's compulsion, but it seems he's changing things from fishing into killing a man.
The rules say that nobody dies on Plymouth Island, so as a representative of the existing program,
he wonders why the creator has changed the rules. Suddenly, Dill wakes up in his bed
earlier than usual, and realizes he isn't allowed to move until the alarm clock rings.
Thinking about the talk with Reid, he takes out a couple of maps and notices they all
show the same thing: Plymouth Island is in the middle of nothing. After a quick swim,
Dill takes his truck to the middle of the road to try to talk to Patrick,
saying he'll kill Frank and admitting he doesn't even remember how he got to this island,
but he still remembers his fishing days with his son. He came back mad from war, and that's why
he thinks Patrick made Dill mad to catch the fish here. Sometimes, Dill has visions of himself dead
on the sand, but before he can reach a conclusion about their meaning, his monologue is interrupted
by Constance's son, Samson. Dill has always thought Samson was lucky so he considers his
presence a good sign, but he still refuses to give him Duke's job because the rules have changed.
Afterward, Dill goes to see Lois, who offers him some special lures that Reid dropped as a trial.
Dill asks some weird philosophical questions, but Lois doesn't know how to answer them. Next, Dill
uses Reid's card to call his company and confirm he's real, but he quickly hangs up after leaving
a quick message for him saying "thank you". On his way to the boat, Dill bumps into Jack and asks the
philosophical questions again, but Jack doesn't know how to answer them either, confirming they're
NPCs. In his room at home, Patrick takes out his father's knife from a box. At the hotel on the
island, Karen wakes up to find a bleeding Frank in the bathroom because someone has attacked him.
The explanation for this is in the boat: Duke is waiting for Dill to tell him he paid a thug
to break Frank's hands, this way he's keeping Dill away from temptation. Furious, Dill kicks
Duke out of his boat, ignoring his advice to see a doctor. After going to Jack's to get some alcohol,
Dill drives away and comes across Reid, who tells him he isn't crazy because they're the stuff
dreams are made of. The only thing Reid doesn't know is who made this game, but Dill does know:
Patrick did. It was his son that created this game, wishing to have his dad back and to kill
the man that hurts him. Meanwhile, Karen comes up with a plan. She refuses to miss this chance,
so she wraps up Frank's wounds and convinces him he's still strong enough to go fishing;
she also keeps giving him alcohol for the pain so he's getting pretty drunk.
Reid knows this is going on and tells Dill about it because his new compulsion is killing Frank,
so if that's the new rule, he should help. Dill rushes back to the boat and meets with Karen,
who promises she got rid of Frank's gun while Constance and Duke watch them from afar.
The group takes off in the boat and while Dill is getting everything ready to fish, he's shocked
to find Samson has stowed away. They can't just push Frank into the ocean with the boy watching,
but luckily, a solution appears in front of them in the form of Justice taking the bait.
Dill remembers he must choose between the fish and the lady, so he gives the rod to Frank,
who is too weak to handle such a dangerous animal and is pulled into the water by Justice,
making it look like an accident. At the same time, Patrick hears Frank yell at Karen so he leaves his
room with his father's knife, only to return a moment later with blood on his hands. The news
of Patrick killing Frank soon appear on every channel in the country. The story covers Karen's
explanation of self-defense against Frank's abuse, and that Patrick's real father had died during the
war. Since the murder, Patrick hasn't said a word and has withdrawn into himself. On the island,
Karen says it's true that both she and Patrick still love Dill, and one day he'll be able to
reunite with his son. After Karen disappears, Dill picks up a ringing public phone and talks
to Patrick, who promises he'll change the game to see him. Patrick is sitting inside a cell
and suddenly smiles as the environment around Dill begins changing. Seconds later, Patrick
appears on the island to reunite with Dill, and now father and son can go fishing together again.