Joel Dunbar lives in North Carolina. A Burbon company arrives at his tattered farmhouse in North Carolina to film an ad for the Superbowl. Dunbar comes from a family who helped transplant a dying tree species on their land. He is the last Dunbar who lives on the land and had nothing to do with helping the trees.

He is going out hunting when the crew arrives. He assumes they must think he is a gun-holding, hillbilly from a long line of confederates and outlaws from his appearance holding the gun and looking a bit rough. However, he is also quite handsome. 

They film the ad and it airs during the Superbowl. Sometimes people tell Joel that he looks like a guy from a Bourbon ad. 

Joel arrives at a hotel in San Fransisco at a wildlife conservation expo. He was invited by an allusive and wealthy man Mr. Moore. He enters the lobby and waits to be greeted by the man’s assistant, Nicole Swain. While he waits he takes a seat across from a cowboy-looking man. 

The cowboy asks where he knows Joel from. Joel pretends not to know. They both explain that they are there for the expo. The cowboy, Carson Cain, reveals that he is a fifth-generation rancher from Arizona and a Jaguar specialist. Carson is speaking alongside a slew of other eco-friendly ranchers and landholders. 

Joel explains that he was in an ad in the Superbowl and was invited here by a man called Mitch Moore. Joel says he is being paid a decent sum of money but does not know very much about his role in the program or why he was invited in the first place. Carson makes a joke about bad fathers and Joel has bad memories of his family’s falling out. 

Nicole Swain approaches and asks for Joel Dunbar. Nicole does not debrief him, but instead, checks him into a hotel room and leaves. She says a car will be there in the morning to pick him up and that secrecy is of the utmost importance to Mr. Moore. In his apartment prior to the trip, Joel looks up to Mr. Moore. Joel still only knows that Mr. Moore is a tech mogul who amassed a large sum of money for breaking into the industry early. He also knows that Mr. Moore has a presence online as being for environmental and adventurous causes, as there are many public and popular videos of him being pro-environment online.

In the morning Joel only knows that he will be attending the event at eleven A.M. where Mitch More was holding his presentation, presumably a benefit he earned from all of his donations. Joel eventually goes to the commons and meets Nicole. He is still wearing the same clothes as the day prior. Nicole takes him to the packed auditorium where he takes a middle seat on the stage. Joel sees Carson watching. Carson makes a gesture as if asking Joel what is going on. Joel’s best guess is that Mitch Moore thinks Joel is an environmentalist saint whom he plans to reward on stage because of the old ad that sort of portrayed Joel in that manner. 

Moore comes onto the stage and the presentation begins. Joel thinks Moore looks punchable. Moore makes a bunch of jokes and then starts talking about polar bears as the most endangered species. He calls for Joel Dunbar to stand up. Moore introduces Dunbar as someone whom he owes a great deal of debt. Moore asks if Dunbar looks familiar and then Dunbar’s Superbowl bourbon ad plays. The ad tells the story of how Moore’s family helped Florida Torreyas migrate so they would continue to survive despite the changing climate. Joel Dunbar had nothing to do with this but was shown throughout the shot walking around his property in the woods. Joel does not feel like an environmentalist at all. Joel does not think of that Torreya tree grove very often anyway. 

Moore explains that after seeing Moore’s environmentalist ad he was inspired to do this line of work. Moore continues to say that climate change is real and that species need to have habitats in which they may thrive. Moore says people must begin to think more innovatively. Then he proceeds to show the audience a photo of an emaciated polar bear. Moore reveals that within a year of that Superbowl,  his championship-winning team has begun building a station in Antarctica to help Polar Bears migrate and survive. Mitchell shows a photo of a polar bear he claims to have helped and then departs the stage. Nicole follows. Joel is left alone on the stage and receives dirty looks from the educated crowd. Joel makes his way out of the auditorium and finds Nicole. Prior to this, Joel shares a passing remark with Carson. Nicole ushers him into Moore’s tesla where Moore reveals that the entire thing is a lie and that he needed Joel to add texture to his presentation. Joel imagines running off with Nicole. Moore explains that it is true that Joel inspired his stunt, along with William Randolph Hearst. 

Later, in a fancy hotel restaurant. Joel runs into Carson Cain. Carson sits with him. They catch up about the event. It seemed like everyone was still hung up on Moore’s presentation when Carson was presenting. However, in six months, Joel plans on exposing Mich Moore when his nondisclosure agreement ends. 

Joel tells Carson that the entire thing is a publicity stunt and that Moore is not actually helping polar bears migrate. Carson comments that he wishes Moore would’ve just done it and actually made a mess so as to teach people a lesson in hubris. 

Joel eventually trades his life for jaguar Sonora and is outsourced to a rich man as a part of a security force in the Madrean Sky Islands. Joel is shot to death in a cartel show-down a few years later. Carson convinced him to go there and calls this time at the expo a wake-up call.