Lily Bloom sits on the edge of a Boston rooftop at night, thinking about suicide in the abstract rather than intending to jump. She has just returned from Plétora, Maine, where she attended the funeral of her father, Andrew Bloom, and gave a eulogy so disastrous that her mother may not forgive her. Lily has come to the roof for air, quiet, and distance from her apartment.

A stranger bursts onto the rooftop in visible distress and vents his anger by repeatedly kicking a patio chair before smoking a joint. When the man notices Lily on the ledge, he becomes tense and insists that she climb down, explaining that he has been close enough to death for one day. Lily complies, and the two begin talking despite their guardedness.

The man introduces himself as Ryle Kincaid, a nearly finished neurosurgery resident who lives temporarily in Boston because of work and his sister. Lily tells him she moved from Maine, works in sales, has a business degree, and secretly dreams of opening a flower shop despite feeling embarrassed by her name, Lily Blossom Bloom. Their banter turns more serious when Ryle proposes sharing “raw truths.”

Lily admits that her father abused her mother and that, as a child, she sometimes wished for the fights because her father would spend the following weeks trying to make amends. Ryle responds that people are not simply bad, but people who sometimes do bad things. Ryle then confesses that he saw a five-year-old boy die that night after the boy’s younger brother accidentally shot him with their parents’ gun, and that Ryle felt anger rather than sympathy toward the parents.

Their honesty deepens the intimacy between them. Lily describes how she deliberately failed to praise her father at the funeral, standing silently at the podium until her uncle removed her. She also reveals that her first sexual partner was Atlas, a homeless boy she secretly helped when she was younger, and that her father beat him when he found out.

Ryle admits that he rejects marriage, children, and romantic attachment because he wants professional success above all else. He bluntly tells Lily he wants to sleep with her, and their attraction escalates until his phone rings with a hospital call. Before leaving, Ryle takes a photo of Lily, wishes her luck with her dream, and exits, leaving Lily alone again but unexpectedly saddened by his absence.