Michael is the 30-year-old failure of his infamous father who released information to the American public that revealed the extent of spying the NSA did on US citizens. His father released the information back when Michael was a teenager, leading to resentment for multiple reasons. Imprisoned, his father couldn’t provide anything for them and refused to take any deals that could help alleviate the financial burden that his legal team was costing his family. Michael and his mother received death threats and were also ostracized from the community. So, when a reporter offered Michael a huge advance on a book deal to smear his father’s name, he had to oblige, both because of the money and because of the resentment he’d built up against his father.  After receiving a presidential pardon, his father now lives a humdrum life at home in D.C., taken care of by his wife and Michael, who moved back home to help out and because of a general lack of funds to support himself. One of his father’s only wishes now is to go to the zoo and see the lions, which Michael consistently obliges to.  One day, while giving an uninspired speech at his former school, Michael receives word from his mother that his father has taken all his pain medication. Michael arrives three minutes too late. Whereas his father used to leave notes every time he left the house to let them know where he’d gone and when he’d return, he left no suicide note. Instead, a few days later, Michael receives a call from his father’s lawyer telling him that she is in possession of hundreds of pages of diary entries from his father while he was serving time in prison for treason. She informs him that these diaries have been left in his name and it is his will whatever happens to them. Before dropping by the lawyer’s office, Michael takes his father’s wheelchair to the zoo one last time, placing it in front of the lion enclosure, hoping it catches someone’s eye and makes them wonder about his father.