Mall

Mal, an addict, shoots his mother and sets their trailer on fire, igniting the film's violence. He then heads toward the mall, signaling a deadly arc that will collide with the lives of several mall-goers. The act establishes the film's bleak mood and the stakes of the coming chaos.

A cop reprimands Jeff for loitering on private property, urging him to move along. Jeff and Adelle then make their way toward the mall, their minds elsewhere as Jeff begins narrating imagined backstories for strangers.

Jeff and Adelle arrive at the mall, and he describes several passersby as part of a critique of modern life. He imagines backstories for Donna the bored housewife, Barry the weary salesman, Michael the immigrant-turned-security guard, and Danny the married businessman seeking casual sex. The mall becomes a stage for his critique of a soulless modern society.

Beckett arrives with the group and shares ecstasy with Jeff, altering their perception of the mall's reality. He tries to talk Jeff out of his crush on Adelle, but Jeff remains fixated on her.

Danny is arrested by the same cop for peeping on Donna, who forgets to lock the fitting-room door. Beckett and Shel leave to gather and stare at the scene, pulling the group into the spectacle and leaving Adelle and Jeff to themselves.

Alone with Adelle, Jeff admits he has fallen for her, but she calls him unexciting and wanders off. The moment sharpens the emotional tension amid the surrounding chaos.

Mal arrives at the mall and murders his father Barry and several police officers, plunging the scene into a riotous upheaval. Jeff staggers through the chaos, not fully aware of what's happening around him as the crowd flees.

Mal leaves the mall, killing the cops who arrested Danny, and heads into the forest. Michael grabs a spare rifle from Mal's car and follows, intent on stopping him. Jeff drifts drugged through the mall, unaware of the escape.

Beckett, Shel, and Adelle arrive in the parking lot and find Danny still handcuffed, begging for release. Adelle moves him to his own car, binds him with a seat belt, tightens his handcuffs, and molests him while forcing him to repeat 'I'm a pervert' before leaving.

Jeff meets Donna in a bar and remarks that she does not look old enough to have kids. She invites him to a motel room, where they have sex, with Donna showing a casual disregard for the chaos around them.

Back at the mall, Jeff discovers Beckett and Shel taking pictures of Danny and chases them away. He offers to take Danny to a hospital, and learns from Danny that Adelle is not a friend.

Jeff encounters Mal, who is wounded after a shootout with Michael. Mal asks Jeff to kill him, but Jeff refuses, labeling him a coward who would rather die than live.

Cops prepare for an assault on Mal's location and the narrative closes with Donna resuming her dull life as Jeff quotes Steppenwolf, vowing to learn to laugh. The film ends on Jeff's laughter, implying a glimmer of defiance against the mall's nihilism.