The film unfolds in a non-linear narrative, presenting the story from four distinct perspectives. Below is a broad reconstruction of the events, though it doesn't capture the precise sequence in which they occurred.
### Ronna's Story
On Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, actors Adam and Zack, known for their roles on a soap opera, find themselves caught in a narcotics bust. They agree to assist Officer Burke in a sting operation aimed at nab Simon, a local ecstasy dealer. However, Simon is in Las Vegas, leaving Ronna, played by Sarah Polley, a desperate 18-year-old dropout working at the grocery store, to take his place.
Recognizing an opportunity, Ronna offers to procure drugs for Adam and Zack after they express interest in buying ecstasy. Later, during a discussion with her friends Claire and Mannie about the underground drug business, Ronna decides to become a dealer, a choice she views as a one-off deal. She approaches Todd, Simon's supplier, who is wary of her intentions. In an attempt to solidify the deal, Ronna bullies Claire into providing collateral for her dubious venture.
At the pre-rave gathering at Adam and Zack's apartment, there’s an unmistakable sense of unease as they awkwardly interact with each other. As the deal falls apart, Ronna escapes to the restroom and flushes the drugs. To avoid capture, she cleverly informs Officer Burke of her age, creating a legal dilemma for him, which allows her to escape.
In a clampdown of desperation, Ronna shoplifts medications from her own store to substitute the drugs she failed to acquire. She crafts a plan to sell these pills as ecstasy at the rave. To her surprise, the scheme proves effective, and she earns enough money to prevent her eviction. However, Todd, having discovered the ruse, hunts Ronna down at the rave. In a tense showdown outside, she is struck by a car while fleeing, leaving her for dead in a rain-soaked ditch.
### Simon's Story
Earlier in the timeline, Simon takes off for Las Vegas with friends Marcus, Tiny, and Singh, leaving Ronna to fill in at the grocery store. While out, chaos ensues when Simon and Marcus engage in a series of misadventures, culminating in Simon's reckless behavior at a strip club, where he draws a gun on a bouncer and desperately flees from the authorities.
### Adam and Zack's Story
Meanwhile, Adam and Zack, who are concealing their relationship, inadvertently find themselves entwined in the drug world under pressure from the police. After a bizarre Christmas dinner at Burke's house, where unusual propositions are made, they track down their cheating partner, Jimmy, at the rave. Their revenge leads to them hitting Ronna with their car, resulting in a series of events that leave her vulnerable as they hastily escape the scene.
### Conclusion
As dawn breaks, the narrative converges at the hospital where Ronna awakens, relieved that she raised enough money to cover her rent but horrified that Mannie is still hidden in the alleyway. Ronna and Claire quickly return to find him alive but in shock. With a week until New Year's Day, they drive away, contemplating the peculiar twists of their fates and the chaotic entanglements of their lives.
