Stealing Time

The film opens with Alec's voiceover questioning why we make the decisions we make, setting up the central theme. The camera cuts to a flashback about a year before college in Eugene, Oregon, introducing the four friends and their dynamic. It hints at choices that will shape their futures.

Alec argues with the Administration and Records clerk about a missing credit. After hours of persistence, he convinces the college he has the credit and will soon graduate. The moment foreshadows both his determination and the fragility of their plans.

The friends move out of their apartment and participate in book buy back day, a routine that becomes a cover for their petty thefts. They repeatedly steal textbooks and resell them to the buyer, performed with practiced ease. The sequence establishes their knack for planning and mischief.

The group visits their favorite bar Rennie's Landing for one last time. Casey probes Sam about why nothing ever happened between them, and Sam's evasive reply leaves the question unresolved. The scene underscores unspoken tensions among the friends.

A year after graduation, Alec works as a secretary for a producer he hates. Sam is in a stagnant relationship and works at a Mexican restaurant in Salt Lake City. Casey coaches a girls' soccer team, and Trevor works behind the scenes in film as stage crew. Their separate paths set up the later convergence.

Sam tells her boyfriend she landed the social service job she always wanted, but he is unhappy and has spent most of their money without her knowing. Casey arrives to visit, and they travel to join Alec and Trevor, who are now roommates. The tension between ambition and finances drives their next decisions.

During the visit, Alec is diagnosed with a brain tumor, a life changing secret he keeps from his friends. The diagnosis adds a looming timer to their attempts to reset their lives. His decision to hide it casts a shadow over the group’s evolving plan.

Casey reconnects with a former girlfriend and learns she had his child, who died before age five. He visits the child's grave and vows to be more responsible and ready to be a father. The personal history deepens his motivation to change.

The group visits a convenience store where Alec theatrically robs it as a test of nerve. This incident triggers his proposition to rob a bank and solve their problems. His meticulous planning becomes central to the story as they slowly commit to the heist.

Wearing disguises, the four pull off a bank robbery and walk away with around five million dollars. Alec's pennies in a jar distract the bank manager, but he leaves the jar behind as time runs out. They split up according to the plan, though the jar's loss foreshadows trouble.

A TV news broadcast reports a strong police lead tied to Trevor after a Rennie's Landing badge with his full name is found among the pennies. The discovery ties Trevor to the earlier heists in the eyes of the investigators. Tension rises as Casey and Sam realize the net is closing around them.

Police surround the bar; Trevor is killed and Casey mortally wounded as he reaches for his keys, mistaken for a threat. Sam escapes through a back window and hides as the scene ends in tragedy. The events devastate the friends and pivot the story to its surreal twist.

Alec finally arrives at the meeting point but collapses at the bank he had robbed in his fantasies. The film cuts to a montage revealing that most events after the initial 20–30 minutes were hallucinations caused by his brain tumor. The twist reveals his death at the bank as the true end.

The montage culminates in Alec dying, and his voiceover wishes his friends well and hopes they can see each other again someday. The narrative reframes the earlier events as one man’s hallucination and a meditation on friendship and choice. The film leaves the fates of the others ambiguous in the wake of his death.