In this science-fiction drama, Cade Altair and his identical twin brother, Cale Altair, were abducted as youths and secretly transformed into humanoid secret agents designed to stop evil from within. As time passes, Cale struggles to fit the program and is ultimately fired, while Cade grows into an adult operative tasked with protecting troops. After a mission, Cade returns to headquarters where his boss suggests he take a vacation, and Cade quietly laments how long it has been since he last saw his brother.
Cale goes on a provocative outing, interrogating a lawyer, an executive, and the president of a bank, before he shoots one of them in the leg and heads off to share pills with his girlfriend. Cade’s boss warns him about programmable virtual reality, foretelling that a man named Cuzzx will exploit it to launch the biggest cyber-terror attack the world has ever seen. Fueled by a mix of duty and curiosity, Cade commits to investigate, but his path crosses with a woman named Alana. He asks her on a date to smooth over the awkwardness, but she declines and leaves. He later spots her again, and chooses to follow her home. He breaks into her house, the two clash, and in a surprising turn of events they reveal that they had been in a relationship the entire time.
To uncover clues for his mission, Cade infiltrates a Cuzzx laboratory and discovers four men wearing VR goggles who appear to be in a trance. In the adjacent room, an elderly figure dressed like Cuzzx meets with others. The men vanish, seemingly pulled into the programmable virtual reality, and Cade reports back to his boss. The case grows personal when Cade takes Alana out to dinner, and a mysterious man stabs Cade’s homeless friend, seizing his cell phone. At the same time, Cale tracks down and murders a wealthy executive, but accidentally leaves behind a syringe at the scene. Cade then adopts the persona of a wealthy investor who wants to fund the Cuzzx Empire, granting him a tour of Cuzzx’s house. Donna, Donna, who is Cale’s pill-headed girlfriend, breaks up with him and later runs into Cade, asking where she can score more drugs and noting his shaved beard. Cade responds with a sly line, and the moment briefly softens their tension as he provides money for a place to stay and they share a hug. Alana witnesses the reunion and grows jealous.
The plot thickens as a mysterious man enters the home of a prostitute before the scene cuts to Cade standing outside the Cuzzx Empire building, contemplating his next move. Fueled by a determination to dismantle the operation, Cade makes his way to the boiler room to enact his plan. After the empire collapses, Cuzzx escapes the country. Back home, Alana turns on Cade, revealing she has been working for Cuzzx, and the two exchange gunfire, with Alana dying in his arms. In the virtual-reality forest that recurs in their intertwined fates, Cade and Alana briefly reunite; she tells him she loves him, then disappears. The movie closes with Cade addressing the audience, acknowledging the loss of Alana and positing that humanity will ultimately inhabit a virtual universe. Before the credits, the screen proclaims that Cade Altair will return.
