An elderly chef walks through a massive kitchen, approving various delicious dishes as he goes.
A man named Goreng (Ivan Massagué) wakes up in a building and is told by his cell-mate Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor) that this is level 48 and they are in a place called the Pit. There are two people on every level of the prison and the inmates are knocked out and moved to a different level every month. Goreng is told that food is key in this prison. Timagasi notes that the people below and the people above do not speak to each other.
An alarm goes off and a massive table of partially eaten food descends into their cell through a hole in the middle of it. Trimagasi begins gorging on the food while Goreng looks on in disgust. It is apparent that the food was lowered through the first 47 levels above them before reaching their cell. Goreng grabs an un-eaten apple off the table and puts it in is pocket to eat later. As the table begins descending to the cell below theirs, Trimagasi spits on the food and drinks the remaining wine despite Goreng’s objections.
After the table fully descends to the next level, the cell starts becoming unbearably hot. Trimagasi explains that the food only belongs to them while the table is on their floor. As punishment for keeping the apple, the guards have turned up the heat. The heat only goes off once Goreng throws the apple down the hole to the table below.
It turns out that Goreng volunteered to be in the Pit for six months in exchange for receiving an accredited diploma. He eventually gets Trimagasi to share his story. The old man became enraged one day by a trivial matter and threw his TV out the window. The TV killed a person standing outside his apartment and he chose to be in the Pit rather than in a psychiatric hospital.
Trimagasi also shares that the lowest level he’s been on is 132. He confirms that no food makes it down that far (but says he still found ways to eat). Goreng wants to yell up to the higher levels to conserve food, but Trimagasi says they won’t listen to a Communist. When Goreng yells downwards to the other inmates to conserve food, Trimagasi urinates on those below (saying they’ll return the favor when he is placed to a level lower than them). Goreng shares that he brought a book (Don Quixote) with him to prison, while Trimagasi brought a knife.
Goreng initially refuses to eat, but he eventually succumbs to hunger and joins Trimagasi at the table. One day, a dead body plummets down through the hole. Trimagasi explains that many people above commit suicide when they have all their needs met and have to focus solely on their situation and the things they have done to survive. Goreng is incensed at Trimagasi’s cavalier attitude (as well as that of his fellow prisoners). He accuses Trimagasi of killing and eating his prior cell-mate when they were on one of the lower levels. Trimagasi denies this and says his cell-mate served his term and was released. He says they survived on the lower levels by cannibalizing the corpses that fell from above.
One day, a woman is seated upon the table as it descends. Trimagasi explains that this woman is named Miharu (Alexandra Masangkay) and is trying to find and find her young child, who is allegedly held somewhere therein. He says that she kills her cell-mate every month (theorizing the body that fell may have been her cell-mate’s) in hopes she’ll next be paired with her child. She descends on the platform as far as she can go every month in search of her child. When the table descends to level 49, the inmates there attempt to rape her. Goreng yells at them to stop. Miharu kills the two men and continues her descent.
After many days, Goreng becomes less civil and more like Trimagasi. On their last night at Level 47, Trimagasi admits he’s come to like Goreng (although he doesn’t think Goreng has what it takes to survive his stay). Trimagasi says he only has two more months before his time is served.
When Goreng awakens, he finds himself tied down to the bed with Trimagasi standing over him with his knife. They have been moved to level 171. People are screaming upon discovering where they are and several commit suicide by jumping down the hole. Trimagasi explains that if he hadn’t bound Goreng, Goreng eventually would have killed him out of hunger as Goreng is younger and in better shape. Trimagasi plans to fast for as long as he can and slowly mutilate Goreng so they can both eat his flesh. When Goreng calls Trimagasi a murderer, he says it is the ones above them that have caused this. When the platform descends, not even bones remain on the table for them to eat.
After awhile, Trimagasi begins carving into Goreng’s leg. Before Trimagasi can complete his mutilation, the platform arrives with Miharu on it. She wounds Trimagasi and frees Goreng. Now freed, Goreng kills Trimagasi. He and Miharu eat Trimagasi before she descends further down on the table. Goreng begins to hallucinate conversations with Trimagasi (who is now “part of [Goreng’s] body”) and having sex with Miharu. Goreng barely survives to the end of the month.
Goreng awakens to find a new cell-mate named Imoguiri (Antonia San Juan) who has a dog with her. They find themselves on level 33. Imoguiri worked for the administration that runs the Pit (and the country outside) before volunteering to be placed inside. She says that there are 200 levels and that if everyone ate only what they needed, there would be enough food to reach the bottom (the chefs also prepare the favorite foods of each inmate). Imoguiri states that the administration hopes that the members of the Pit spontaneously come together for the good of all. If the people in the Pit can sacrifice for each other, the administration will use that success to convince the people outside to do the same. As the table descends, Imoguiri asks the inmates below to only eat what they need, but they ignore her.
The following weeks, Imoguiri continues to plead with those on the level below to eat only what they need. They are only persuaded when Goreng threatens to defecate in the food. That said, they are unable to persuade those in the levels above their own to ration their food. Imoguiri believes that Goreng may be the person who can bring the prisoners together to sacrifice for the commgood.
One day, Miharu is found deathly ill on the table. The pair treat her, but when Miharu awakens, she kills Imoguiri ‘s dog. As Miharu descends (and kills another convict that tries to assault her), Imoguiri says that Miharu’s story is bogus. She says that Miharu voluntarily entered the Pit (with no child) in exchange for help becoming the “Asian Marilyn Monroe.” To prove she is trustworthy, Imoguiri reveals she has cancer and signed up simply to try and help those inside. Imoguiri sinks into depression over the loss of their dog.
After reassignment day, Goreng find himself on level 202! When he awakens, he sees that Imoguiri has hung herself (likely due to learning that the administration lied to her about how deep The Pit goes). There are more levels below him as well. Goreng tries to eat his book. Ultimately, he succumbs to cannibalism yet again, devouring Imoguiri’s corpse. He now hallucinates conversations with Imoguiri and Trimagasi (who are now both a part of him) and the specters proclaim that he is the messiah.
The next month, Goreng awakens on level 6 with a man named Baharat (Emilio Buale) as his new cell-mate. Baharat has a rope with him and asks those above to help him climb to the top and out of the Pit. The prisoners above mock him and defecate on him. Goreng (who calculated that there are roughly 250 levels while he was on level 202) proposes that the two descend on the platform and hand out food at each level. He theorizes that if the food makes it to the bottom, they will have beaten the system. If they fail, they can ride the platform back up. Baharat, being a pious man, agrees to the plan and they arm themselves for battle.
As the pair begin their descent, they beat the other inmates back. They reach a level with a wise man that Baharat knows. The wise men says that the pair must make sure that at least one delicious dish is sent back up the platform uneaten. That uneaten dish will serve as a message to the administration that the Pit has been conquered. They choose a pana cotta – a near perfect dish – to be returned totally uneaten.
The pair are successful in forcing the prisoners to conserve the food as they descend. They reach a floor where Miharu is being stabbed by two particularly vicious inmates. Goreng and Baharat attack and kill the vicious inmates, but not without suffering grievous wounds themselves. Miharu dies from the stab wounds.
As they continue to descend, they mainly find people who are dead or insane on the lower levels. The platform stops at level 333, which they think is the final level. At that level, they find Minaru’s child! The pair get off the platform, only to be surprised when it descends yet again. They give the panna cotta to the child and sleep. When Goreng awakens the next day, he finds Baharat dead from his injuries.
The platform reaches their level that day with no food. Goreng pulls the child onto the platform. Goreng caresses the child to sleep. The platform finally descends to the very bottom (where light from above is but a pinprick). At the bottom, Goreng again encounters the spirit of Trimagasi, who says that Goreng’s journey is at an end. Trimagasi says that the child is the true message that must be sent back up to the administration. Although Goreng wants to stay with the child, he is coaxed off the platform when Trimagasi says that the child must rise alone. The platform begins its ascent to the top as Trimagasi and Goreng watch. Trimagasi assures Goreng that the Child will succeed in delivering the message to the administration as Goreng smiles.
