In a New York City of the near future, Andy is a substitute teacher contemplating leaving the city. He'd moved after college to pursue his career as an artist, but the last few years had left him unfulfilled and unproductive in terms of his art. Not long before he planned to leave, he meets a girl, Katie, on the subway, reaching out to her via his "layer" technology; they strike up a connection and begin a relationship. The "layer" technology is used by everyone in the city. It's a way of giving people access to information about you while hiding other forms of information as well. Easily accessible information available to the general public would be arranged on one's outer layers; that which one chooses to guard to himself would be stored in one's deepest layers. With this technology, everyone can learn about everyone else very quickly, with no need for small talk or developing relationships. Andy and Katie explore one another's layers. While Katie is more open, sharing the premature death of her mother and her time spent with her father in a cabin in Maine, Andy guards memories of his family to himself. Katie suggests that they take a trip to the cabin in Maine, where there's no connection, meaning that the layer technology is disabled and they must speak to each other as people did before. Andy agrees, but once he's there, he's hesitant. It takes a while before he's comfortable in front of Katie and her father, but he learns to appreciate the openness. That night in the cabin, he shares memories of his family with Katie. They return to the city and Katie suggests a radical idea: giving one another complete access to each other's layers. Andy is skeptical, but he agrees. Unfortunately, this move drives them apart, until they split up. It becomes too much to see each other's fleeting attractions, know each other's previous romantic histories in full, sense the other's mild annoyances whenever. After his relationship has ended, Andy reflects on the experience, claiming he wasn't ready for that giant leap.