Anniversary

The affluent Taylor clan gathers at the family home to celebrate Ellen and Paul's 25th wedding anniversary. The attendees include their four children—Cynthia, Anna, Birdie, and Josh—and Josh's fiancée Liz Nettles, who practices greetings in a mirror before meeting the family. The scene establishes the family dynamic and sets up the tensions that will unfold in the years to come.

Liz shocks Ellen by presenting her with The Change: The New Social Contract, a book co-written with Josh. The cover features an American flag with the stars centered, signaling unity around a centrist ideology. Ellen realizes Liz was once a student she challenged, and Liz privately asserts she is not afraid of Ellen anymore.

The Change becomes hugely influential, affecting many lives beyond the Taylors. At the Thanksgiving gathering, Liz is pregnant with twins and Josh has undergone a makeover, growing more confident and even arrogant. The four Taylor women remain wary of Liz and the book, which is sponsored by Cumberland Corporation.

Liz first feels sick at Thanksgiving and appears to break water, prompting a trip to the hospital. Later, it is suggested she may have urinated from stress rather than actual labor. The scene heightens the sense that personal and political turmoil is intensifying.

Liz gives Birdie a password to a noted virology database, pulling her deeper into the scientific world connected to the Change movement. Ellen is disgusted by this professional alliance and the widening gulf between the generations.

A video surfaces showing Ellen vandalizing a neighbor's 'Change' flag, and it goes viral. The clip inflames public opinion and damages Ellen's standing within the family and society at large, underscoring the growing polarization around the movement.

A year later, Ellen loses her Georgetown position as the Change movement becomes the prevailing order. Anna is beaten for mocking the Change on stage, while Birdie’s journalist boyfriend Moses visits but feels threatened and leaves. Liz offers Birdie a job at Cumberland studying virology, and Ellen's anger toward Liz deepens as Rob reveals Cynthia's pregnancy and her desire to limit bringing a child into the troubled world.

Census-takers arrive to question Ellen and Paul, pressing about Anna and showing photos of Birdie at a protest to threaten jail. Ellen capitulates and endorses the Change movement, much to Birdie’s anger as she feels betrayed by her mother.

At the Taylors’ 30th anniversary party, Liz, dressed in red, privately asks Ellen to help with Josh’s strange behavior; Ellen slaps Liz in response. Liz and Josh then invite Ellen and Paul to dance to a favorite song, as a clown unexpectedly enters—the clown is Anna, who speaks to a distressed Cynthia.

On television, news reports a horrific bioweapon attack at the Cumberland headquarters in Washington, D.C., where Birdie works. Birdie appears on camera and carries out a suicide bombing, delivering a devastating blow to the family and the movement.

Cynthia stabs Josh, though not fatally, before fleeing with the bloody knife. Police officers open fire on Anna as she runs toward the sea, further tearing the family apart and plunging them into chaos.

Police enter the house and bag Ellen’s and Paul’s heads; Paul recalls meeting Ellen in front of Magritte’s The Lovers. Josh pleads with a policeman to keep his parents together, but the officers ignore him and detain him; a police liaison asks Liz what to do, and she says Josh is with his parents as the Taylors are forcibly removed.

Liz, having effectively destroyed the Taylor family, looks at a picture of happier days. Her moment of reflection is interrupted by a small, unsettling smile that hints at the complexity of her choices and the true cost of the Change.