Normandy, 1944. Young engineer Sgt. Wally Harris and his unit of craftsmen begin a journey through France, aiding the Allied liberation of Northern Europe. Untrained in combat, Wally and his men have never looked their enemy in the eye, until now.

Locked in a mind-numbing marriage, elderly Alma wants husband Gustav to leave the confines of his 'safe-space' bathtub and apply to reach a higher level of existence, known as the Scintillating Intelligence. To do this, Gustav must re-enact memories from his life, that each elicit one of six pure human emotions: pleasantness, unpleasantness, arousal, subduing, stress and relaxation. Only after performing these memories to a mysterious god, known as the Monad, will he find out if he's reached his goal. But first he must practise; Alma hires an acting coach to help him do just that.