A Dog’s Breakfast

Patrick lives alone in his late parents' house with his loyal dog Mars, maintaining a strict, orderly routine. He guards his solitude as Christmas approaches, avoiding major changes. The setup establishes the fragile balance he will risk to protect his sister.

Marilyn arrives to introduce her fiancé, Ryan, to Patrick. The meeting is strained as Patrick weighs the strange dynamic he sees between them. The encounter hints at dangerous complications to come.

During the tense introduction, Patrick overreacts and knocks Ryan unconscious with a cricket bat. The shocking act abruptly shifts the balance of power in the room and alarms Marilyn. Patrick immediately questions the consequences of what he's done.

Patrick secretly overhears a phone conversation in which Ryan cites a line that makes him fear Ryan intends to harm Marilyn. The moment confirms his worst fears and fuels his protective obsession. He resolves to shield his sister at any cost.

Patrick's resolve hardens into a protectiveness that dominates every choice. He becomes more controlling and secretive, convinced that only he can keep Marilyn safe. The pledge seeds a descent into morally risky actions.

Ryan attempts to mount Christmas lights on a ladder and falls to the ground, dying in a sudden accident. Patrick panics and tries to hide what happened, fearing the truth would destroy his sister's engagement. The event marks a grim turning point in the increasingly nightmarish plan.

In a frantic bid to conceal the death, Patrick hides the body first in the garden. He contends with the creeping anxiety that someone might discover the truth. The concealment stretches his ethics and resolve.

When the body doesn't stay hidden, Patrick drags it to a nearby lake to bury it, hoping the water will erase the evidence. The corpse stubbornly reappears, escalating the nightmare. The haunt of the body foreshadows the unraveling of Patrick's carefully constructed lie.

To divert Marilyn's attention, Patrick fabricates an online dating profile and stages a blind date between Marilyn and a mysterious man named Chris. He hopes to sow doubt about Ryan and derail the engagement without exposing his own guilt. The ruse compounds the web of lies surrounding the wedding.

Ryan's disappearance draws official attention and his aunt becomes involved in the investigation. At first, suspicion lands on Marilyn, but Patrick's fragile cover begins to crumble under the pressure. The family dynamics intensify as the truth inches closer.

In a darkly comic twist, the siblings decide to dismember Ryan's body and feed it to Mars and the neighbor's dogs. The act underscores how far Patrick has gone to protect his sister and maintain the illusion. It becomes a fevered culmination of deceit.

Ryan reveals that he and Marilyn staged his death and that the body Patrick disposed of is actually Marilyn's sex doll, with Ryan playing Marilyn's relative to keep the ruse going. Patrick confronts the absurdity and danger of the deception. The truth reframes who is protecting whom.

Elise, Ryan's sister, arrives and is wary of the wedding, but a spark ignites between Patrick and Elise from their first encounter. Marilyn guides Elise through the house as Ryan quietly leads Patrick toward the lake. The moose figure looming behind foreshadows a final, irreversible choice.