Liam Foxwell meets with his HR department for an appraisal, who inform him that they want his office to deal more in litigation over retrospective parenting. Su3rprised, Liam confirms that the firm is okay with that, ethically and morally. They ask him if he’s okay with it, and Liam says that he is. Once he answers, the representatives want him to a big redo the next week, and wants to make sure there are no deletions in the last quarter. Liam assures them that there isn’t, and they say that they’re looking forward to seeing him again.
As he heads back to the airport, an advertisement in the taxi talks about full-spectrum memory, assuring that three decades of backup memory is free. Liam replays back his memories of the appraisal, focusing on the part where they say they’re looking forward to seeing him again. At the airport, the airport security has Liam replay the last 24 hours of his memory from “the Grain,” and then for the last week.
Liam’s wife Ffion entertains their old friends at a party, including Jonas and Jeff. Jeff shows them memories of the carpet in his suite during his trip and complains about the wear and tear. Liam arrives and Fi comes out, and they agree to discuss the appraisal later. Jonas comes out and Fi introduces him to Liam. They go in and talk to Jeff, and Liam says that his appraisal was a disaster. Jeff suggests that they do a redo of the appraisal, just for laughs, but Liam hesitates and Jonas suggests that they drop it. As they go to dinner, Liam asks Lucy if he’s met Jonas before, and she says that he was part of the old crowd. Nervous, Liam replays his memories of Fi and Jonas talking.
As they sit down for dinner, another guest, Hallam, arrives. She sits down as Jonas talks about how relationship are a sham, and how by the end of his relationship, he spent more time going through redos of hot times stored on the Grain in earlier relationships than spending time with his girlfriend. Hallam admits that she doesn’t have a Grain implanted, and she says that she was gouged a year ago. She doesn’t remember it, and there was no brain damage, and the police figure that someone stole it to order. Jonas, intrigued, feels the scar behind her ear. Hallam liked going without after a few days and went without a replacement. They say that it’s a brave choice, except for Colleen, who says that she couldn’t do it. As they watch redos of one guest’s partying at a club before Liam and Fi were married, Colleen says that organic memories aren’t trustworthy. She works in Grain development, and notes that it’s easy to implant false memories by asking leading questions in therapy. Hallam insists that she’s happier.
As they head home, Liam invites Jonas to come back with them for a drink. On their way home, Liam redos the appraisal for Fi. She figures that it went well, but Liam isn’t convinced. She has him replay one of the HR appraisers making a mark and figures that it’s a tick, but Liam isn’t convinced. He asks his wife if she knows much about Jonas, and says that he’s a bit of a dick about his relationships, and how he was sucking up by coming to Liam’s aid about redoing the appraisal. Fi wonders why Liam invited her over, and Liam says that she wanted him to invite Jonas over. Liam insists that it was obvious that he didn’t want Jonas to come, and Fi replays her Grain memories of Liam inviting Jonas over. He insists that he was being polite, and looks back at Jonas following them.
The trio arrives at the Foxwell house, and Liam tries to convince Jonas that it’s late and it’s too late for a drink. Jonas says that he has backup plans and says his goodbyes, and then drives off. Inside, Fi offers to let the babysitter Gina stay over because it’s 40 minutes for a cab, and Gina accepts the offer. Liam pours drinks and they redo memories of their baby Jody. As they watch, Liam brings up Jonas again and complains that he was oily, and Fi finally admits that the two of them were together long before she and Liam married. She points out that Liam had a relationship with a woman named Gemma, and Liam reminds her that he told Fi about it but she never said anything about Jonas, and she says that she met Jonas in Marrakesh and had a thing with him for a month, but never mentioned him by name. Her husband wonders if she’s embarrassed, and reminds her that she originally told him it was just for a week. When Fi disagrees, Liam replays her memories from the first time together, when she said it was a weird week. Fi insists that it doesn’t make a difference and tells Liam that he’s getting obsessed like he was with Dan. She insists that nothing happened, and Liam takes offense and calls her a bitch. After a second, he apologizes. Fi redos what he said and Liam asks her to erase it, and she goes to bed alone. He goes after her and apologizes, and Fi insists that she loves her.
Later, Liam and Fi have love, and both redo an earlier encounter. Once they’re done, Fi kisses Liam and dozes off. Liam goes downstairs, pours himself a drink, and redos his memories of the dinner party and Jonas talking. He’s still doing it in the morning, and does a lip-read reconstruction of when he saw Fi and Jonas talking privately. As they talk about how it was weird meeting each other, Gina comes down. Liam calls her over and asks if one of Jonas’ jokes that Fi laughed at was funny. The babysitter says it wasn’t, just as Fi comes in and Liam plays the joke again. He redos when they said goodnight to Jonas and asks Gina which of them wants Jonas to come back for a nightcap. Gina’s father arrives and she quickly excuses herself,
After Gina leaves, Fi comes back and complains that Liam embarrassed her. He asks her to sit down and redos her talking privately with Jonas. Liam points out that how when he arrived, Fi became much stiffer. He then checks the other guest’s memories of the club and spots Fi kissing another man in the past. She admits that she went out with Jonas for six months and she fudged it earlier, but insists that nothing has been going on. Liam is furious that Jonas is redoing his and Fi’s time together like he described at the party, and Fi tells Liam to sober up and sort it out.
Liam continues drinking and redos the party memories. Later he tries to leave and gets a Grain assistant warning that he may not be in suitable condition to drive. Liam overrides the assistant and drives to Jonas’ place. Jonas confirms that Fi isn’t with Liam, and Liam says that he wants to come in and talk. Once the gate opens, Liam drives up to the house and hugs Jonas when he comes out. He runs inside and admires the house, and Jonas wonders if Liam had a fight with Fi. Liam tells him to sit down and half-jokingly threatens to hit him with a bottle of vodka he’s picked up.
Hallam comes in wearing a shirt and nothing else, and Liam tells Jonas to redo the sex on the TV. He finally asks if he masturbates to images of Fi, and Jonas tells him to go. When Liam doesn’t, Jonas tries to help him up and Liam hits him in the head with the vodka bottle.
Later, Liam wakes up in his crashed car, in the middle of the countryside. He redos what happened after he passed out, and sees what happened.
Liam and Jonas fight, and Liam tells Jonas to wipe every memory he has of Fi. While Hallam calls the police because she doesn’t have a Grain implant, Liam breaks the bottle and threatens to gouge out the implant. Jonas finally brings up the memories on the screen and erases them so that Liam can see he’s doing it. Liam then tells Jonas to stay away from his house and walks out.
Shocked at what he did, Liam redos the memories again and then walks home. He goes to the bedroom where Fi is still sleeping, and she wakes up and realizes that something is wrong. Liam asks if Jonas used a condom and wonders if Jody is his son. Fi insists that he is, and Liam sits down and says that the painting on the wall that he bought her, he never liked. He redos the memories of assaulting Jonas on the TV screen, including a file of Jonas having sex with Fi with the same painting in the background.
Fi insists that it isn’t what it looks like, and it was after the Dan stuff was going on and Liam walked out for five days without calling. Jonas came over, and Fi was upset. She insists that it didn’t happen and assures Liam that she made Jonas use a condom. Liam tells her to redo what happened and she says that she deleted it because she wanted it to go away. He wants to see the blank spot on her timeline, and realizes that she’s trying to delete it. Liam demands to see it and when she refuses, he screams at her and insists that it isn’t him but she’s making him act the way he is. Liam tosses the Grain controller to her, and she redos it on the TV screen.
Later, Liam lays in a bedroom alone and redos memories of kissing Fi and looking at Jody. He walks through the empty house and redoes more memories of Fi there, and then fingers the Grain implant. Liam goes the bathroom and redos another memory of him and Fi together... and then gouges out the implant with a razor.
Written by Gadfly on Dec 13, 2015