Nothing Lasts Forever

The film opens with Adam Beckett performing Chopin at Carnegie Hall. When asked for an encore, he reveals he is not truly playing but using a player piano. The crowd erupts in outrage as the piano rolls envelop him, wrapping him in his own deception.

Adam wakes from a nightmare on a European train and realizes the sequence was unreal. In the dream, a Swedish architect confronts him about his stymied artistic ambitions and encourages him to return to art. The encounter plants a seed of doubt about his path.

With renewed purpose from the dream, Adam resolves to go back to America to pursue his artistic dream. This decision marks the start of his return and a shift from dream to reality.

Upon returning, Adam discovers that the Port Authority has taken control of New York and is restricting entry into the city. The new regime blocks his path back into the creative world and into life as an artist.

Adam fails a drawing test at the Port Authority and is forced into a menial job under a trigger-happy boss. He is tasked with watching traffic before it enters the Holland Tunnel and preventing vehicles with faulty parts from entering.

Feeling he won't be creative under his aunt and uncle's roof, Adam moves to a hotel. He occupies a room where the last occupant disappeared mysteriously, leaving behind paintings and belongings.

At work Adam meets Mara, a fellow aspiring artist. He tags along with her to SoHo as she exposes him to various art forms to help determine what resonates with him.

Adam's kindness to a tramp leads him into an underground network where he is cleansed by fire. He learns that the city’s tramps secretly control the destinies of all cities and are tasked with a mission to travel to the Moon.

The surface world welcomes Adam back as Mara seems indifferent to him, prompting him to hurry to board a bus bound for the Moon.

On the bus to the Moon, the vehicle features separate levels for dancing and dining. Passengers are chipped at the back of their necks and increasingly default to saying 'Miami' instead of 'Moon' when speaking of the trip.

The bus is greeted by Moon Maidens and Eloy, intended to be Adam's true love. Eloy warns him that it is too dangerous to speak and helps him slip away from Consumerzone with a buggy.

Adam awakens in an alley and is told he must hurry to his concert in Carnegie Hall. He plays Chopin's polonaise no. 53 to a standing ovation, and Eloy appears waving from a box, signaling a dreamlike reconciliation.