The film opens with a young woman's voice, Riley Keough, leaving a voicemail for her ex-lover, expressing her hurt and disappointment, and indicating that she is moving on from the relationship.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, another young woman named Anima is seen engulfing her home in gasoline before igniting a blaze and fleeing the scene, desperate to evade being discovered. Anima ignores numerous messages from her mother as she makes her way to a concert, hiding from her past.
At the same time, music superstar Abel Tesfaye, known as The Weeknd, is preparing for a show, going through vocal warm-ups. He is visited by his manager Lee, who attempts to boost his confidence. Once on stage, Abel electrifies thousands of fans with his performance. Post-show, he indulges in a wild party with Lee and various groupies, all while being haunted by feelings of loss for his ex-girlfriend, the woman from the voicemail, which leads him into a spiral of sadness and depression.
As he gears up for a Halloween concert, Abel receives distressing news about being diagnosed with muscle tension dysphonia. This revelation, compounded by his regret for his ex, tempts him to cancel his performance. However, Lee manages to persuade him to go on, encouraging him to push through for both his fans and himself. The tension mounts when Anima appears in the crowd during the show. Just as Abel steps into his first song, his voice falters, and he abruptly walks offstage, unleashing a tirade of anger in a voicemail directed at his ex, as he feels their separation intensely.
Afterward, Anima finds Abel backstage and, despite the presence of security, they connect and end up sharing the night together, exploring the city, culminating in a trip to the Santa Monica Pier. In a moment of intimacy at his hotel, Abel plays a snippet of his latest track, “Wake Me Up.” It resonates deeply with Anima, who feels the song encapsulates her own experiences of loneliness and abandonment.
Abel’s night takes a turn as he experiences a vivid nightmare that confronts his childhood self amidst surreal visions. The following morning, as he prepares to return to his busy life of performances, he overhears Anima arguing with her mother about the recent fire she set. Just as Abel is ready to leave, Anima’s emotions erupt, and she tries to push him to be vulnerable with her. When he dismisses her, claiming she is merely a fan, she retaliates by striking him with a champagne bottle.
Abel wakes up, confused and restrained to the hotel bed. Anima begins to play his tracks, including “Blinding Lights” and “Gasoline,” hoping that their shared themes might coax him into revealing his feelings. However, Abel remains silent, believing he has nothing of significance to say. Their situation escalates when Lee, intoxicated, knocks on the door. Anima's attempts to push him away devolve into a violent confrontation. In a desperate moment, she stabs Lee in the neck, leaving him to perish. Then, with a breakdown of her own, Anima attempts to douse Abel with gasoline, since he remains unresponsive. However, as Abel starts to sing a prolonged version of “Wake Me Up,” touching her inner turmoil, she allows him to go free and sets the room alight.
Emerging from the chaos, Abel walks to his next performance, evidently shaken. He finds himself in the green room, staring back at his reflection, grappling with the shadows of his experience and the trauma that now looms over him.
In this narrative, Abel Tesfaye/The Weeknd portrays a fictionalized version of himself as he navigates a tumultuous landscape of emotional strife regarding a lost relationship and the pressures of his musical career. His encounter with Anima, a fervent fan who intertwines her life with his, results in a dark and thrilling adventure that leads her to an extreme act when he cannot open up. Ultimately, after losing Lee to violent circumstances and facing the inferno of their shared experiences, Abel is propelled back into the spotlight, forever altered by the night’s events.
