At a company's facility, people have mind-altering disks in their heads and are implanted with artificial memories. A group of people watch a video about masturbation at a facility and then two workers, Ruthie and Josh, actually have sex despite the genders being separated. They don't get in trouble, and have a baby named Amber. A man names Jon fantasies over another woman, Carolyn, and eventually cannot resist. He slips through the gender barrier and she is excited to have sex with him. Jon tells the boss, Mr. Slippen, that he will have a baby soon. They have him get married to Carolyn. However, not long after, Baby Amber dies. Mr. Slippen says that since everyone is upset about this, he will up their dosage of a drug called Aurabon so that people will feel more hopeful and stress-free. Jon is grateful for this relaxing drug. Carolyn can't take the drug because she's pregnant. She says lots of negative things, telling people to wake up and feel mad because a baby died. Carolynn says she will get her baby out and this confuses Jon. Jon expresses that he wants to express his feelings for Carolyn however he wants. Carolyn wants him to prove that he loves her. So Jon agrees to leave with Carolyn. Mr. Slippen allows them to leave, but they must do a pre-exit visit to the Lerner Center. At the visit, they have individual consultations with people who left the work compound and had the controlling disks removed from their bodies. Jon and Carolyn given questions to ask them about their mental condition. They are approached by an old woman approaches them and says that some people thrive out of the compound and others do not. Jon wants to go back to their old life but Carolyn does not. Carolyn and Jon leave and get into a massive fight about what they both want for their child. Carolyn signs her papers to leave the corporation; Jon does not. They have a brief private moment together where they make up. Carolynn tells Jon to come and find her and the baby someday. Jon continues working but thinks often of Carolyn and is sad. He asks for more mood-boosting drugs. He is given them. He becomes so happy that he longs to be happier until it is almost like depression. They cut him back to a normal dose, take away his privacy tarp, and make him join the single boys' sleeping area.  One night, Jon receives a letter from Carolyn. He decides he is going to quit his job because he misses her. The workers do not want to process his papers because Jon is such a good worker, but they do it because they have to. His bosses show him a film of his mother in a rundown house when she decided to give up her son to this company so he could be raised in good hands. They tell him to reconsider leaving because he is like his mother and destine for sadness, but at the company, he is a star.  One night, Mr. Slippen wakes him up and says he should see something. He pushes him outside, and Jon sees the real world. He is amazed and thinks of God. Jon sees his wife with a big belly, and thinks about how pretty she is. Jon is allowed to leave and goes through the Removal process. He must have his gargadisk, a brain-altering technology, removed. This removal of this technology will allow Jon to experience life as a normal human. His skills, abilities, memory, and knowledge will no longer be influenced by this technology.  The doctor is away at a wedding so Jon has a few days to wait. He and Carolynn fax back and forth. They say they love each other and are excited about their lives together. Carolynn makes a joke that she may no longer be able to bake ninety-two pies. Jon is not sure what life will look like, but he is excited to try.