One man escapes the world only to rise to absurd infamy while another is shattered and struggles to define himself in the aftermath of his wife’s disappearance.
Max volunteers for bizarre surgery which leaves him forever interred in a cocoon of self. In his utter solitude, he recites poetry that mobilizes a movement and threatens the stability of a nation.
John, having lost his wife, is unhinged by isolation and remorse. He disintegrates into multiple personalities which fold back into him when he and Max finally meet.
Forever in the background, the hand of the Institute conspires to steer the fate of one man toward emergence and the other toward decline.