The film starts in 2023 as Billy Evans, partner to Elizabeth Holmes, expresses to the documentary crew how the two of them want to tell an “accurate” version of her story. The opening text explains that there are 34 days leading up to Elizabeth’s eleven-year sentence for defrauding investors with her company Theranos. A crew led by Nathan Fielder have been given the chance over other reporters and journalists because the couple trusts he will help tell the story Elizabeth wants.
Nathan does his research on Elizabeth’s history, from her start at Stanford, to her infamous rise and fall alongside her former president/lover Sunny Balwani. Elizabeth and Billy have also expressed negative feelings towards the Hulu miniseries “The Dropout”, where she is portrayed by Amanda Seyfried. They are also fixated on a quote in the New York Times regarding Amanda’s portrayal, as well as a scrapped film that would have starred Jennifer Lawrence: “They’re not playing me. They’re playing a character I created.” Elizabeth claims she never said SHE created the character.
Nathan joins Elizabeth and Billy at their beach house in San Diego, which they share with their kids. Elizabeth claims she is being as open and honest as possible, though Nathan has his doubts, especially since she’s claimed to have never lied a day in her life. Nathan asks Billy about how he met her, which was around the time she was found guilty of fraud. Billy insists that he loves her despite all that he heard about her.
Elizabeth’s parents Christian and Noel visit the house and meet Nathan. He speaks to Christian privately and learns that things started to go downhill for Elizabeth when she was raped as a student. Billy interrupts the meeting and seems to get defensive about Elizabeth’s parents not being with the family.
Nathan shows Elizabeth and Billy most of “The Dropout”. When it gets to scenes depicting Elizabeth and Sunny, she gets emotional and wants to stop watching. When she talks privately with Nathan, Elizabeth expresses sadness about her upcoming sentence and being separated from Billy and their kids.
Elizabeth shows Nathan a deconstructed version of her “scam device” that she claimed could run hundreds of tests at once with a single drop of blood. She insists that it works as she said it does, but somewhere along the development process, something went wrong. She and Billy are also in the process of trying to get “Theranos 2.0” going.
In the days leading up to her incarceration, Elizabeth gets 3D scans of her body done, though she is not comfortable at the thought of her image being used. She bids Nathan farewell before heading to prison in Bryan, Texas. Billy and the kids move closer to be near her.
Two years later, Nathan shows the footage up to that point to none other than Amanda Seyfried herself. She becomes stunned at what she has seen, especially Elizabeth’s reaction to her performance. For all the remaining scenes prior to filming or wherever the crew could not film, Amanda reprises her role as Elizabeth in re-enactments, while Billy is portrayed by Christopher Abbott. A “flashback” is shown when Elizabeth and Billy first met with Nathan, co-director Lance Oppenheim, and two executives from A24. After Elizabeth had left the room, Billy asked about possibly being paid for their part in the film, but Nathan and the others argue that it would be unethical since it would look biased on their part. Regardless, they negotiate a deal.
Nathan and Amanda review a clip where he spoke to Elizabeth about how she implicitly knew nothing about Billy making any money deals behind her back. Furthermore, Nathan and Amanda find out that Billy is using Elizabeth’s social media account and saying things that she would not say (mainly swearing and insulting people).
Billy meets with Nathan and Amanda in his house. He reveals he has power of attorney over Elizabeth, something that shocks the two. When Amanda accuses Billy of exploiting Elizabeth, he gets defensive and mentions her getting backlash for criticizing Charlie Kirk after his assassination, especially since Billy was a fan of his (make of that what you will). Amanda later tells Nathan that Billy is “batshit crazy” and that, despite her distrust of Elizabeth, she feels no woman should be with a guy like that. Billy also later shows Nathan that he has billboards with Elizabeth’s image in Times Square, with the famous image of her holding a blood sample that she dislikes, as well as AI videos of her.
Nathan has trouble contacting Elizabeth over the phone due to limited minutes. The one time Amanda gets to speak directly to Elizabeth, she is visibly unnerved. Eventually, they arrange for him to speak to her in prison before Billy and the kids arrive. With Amanda playing Elizabeth one last time, we see “Elizabeth” expressing her disapproval of Amanda’s portrayal in “The Dropout” because she thinks that’s the only image of herself that people will believe. On the subject of Billy making the money deal, she says that she would gain nothing anyway because she owes hundreds of millions in restitution, so all of it would be taken from her anyway. Elizabeth becomes emotional once again, proclaiming that her and Billy’s love for one another is real. Nathan leaves after Billy and the kids arrive.
Nathan and Amanda sit one last time to discuss Nathan’s final thoughts. Even though they know Elizabeth can hardly be trusted, Amanda believes Nathan grew to care for Elizabeth in some way.
The final shot is the real Elizabeth and Billy with their kids from outside the prison as they visit her.
The ending text states that Billy eventually dropped his deal to gain money from the film. Nathan eventually got in touch with the New York Times reporter, who, despite being unable to provide evidence, stands by her quote of Elizabeth saying that actresses portraying her are playing a character SHE created.
