At her idyllic wood cabin home in Oregon, Anette (Molly Ephraim) goes about the daily household chores. After completing it, she goes out onto her porch and stretches, taking in the midday sunshine. As her arms are stretched out, a second pair of arms is wrapped around her waist from behind. It is Walter (Ezra Miller). He asks how her day has been and she tells him she’s kept busy. She asks how the writing is coming along and he says wonderful - especially with her as his inspiration. He gives her a nice long kiss.
In Los Angeles, Polly Reisinger (Linda Cardellini) has conversations with Frank’s estate lawyer, Cecil Shapiro (Paul Reuebens). She can sense that Shapiro is suspicious of Frank’s death. Still on a power trip from Frank’s death and her seduction of her neighbor, Polly tries to seduce Shapiro (who is a little older than her) and it works. This ensures that she receives Frank’s massive inheritance. She uses this inheritance to move into a larger house. Just as she had before, she helps Otto (Ezra Miller) sneak out and move into the new mansion which - you guessed it - has an attic that he will live in.
A few months have passed and as Polly is in the process of moving, her neighbor Roy (Vincent Kartheiser) freaks out on her for leaving him behind. She promises to continue visiting him but that is not good enough. She points out that he is still married so why doesn’t he ask Victoria (Cristin Milioti) to bed if he wants action so bad, knowing full well the prude that she is. This angers Roy even more, who is now suspicious that she is cheating on him (again, lost on the notion that he is one already cheating on his wife). Polly is offended and rescinds the offer to continue sleeping with him.
Det. Don Vaughn (Luke Wilson) looks over the case of Frank’s death and is still struggling to find any leads on any suspects. In his mind, he keeps going back to Polly but he can’t seem to find a motive and definitely no evidence. Frank was rich, so maybe she was in it for the inheritance? He jokes with his colleagues about she said her and Frank never fought - were they really even married, then?
At her new house, Polly starts to get into her idea of a “normal” life. In order to keep all parties involved happy, Polly regularly hosts Shapiro for sex, which makes Otto feel weird as he has to listen to it. Her and Otto don’t sleep together as much since she is busier but they remain cordial as he goes about writing his books and she sells them.
At their home, Roy and Victoria have a fight over something minuscule so he storms out. He is able to obtain Polly’s new address so he heads that way. Upon arriving there drunk, he tries to let himself in but it is locked. This freaks Otto out so he springs into action in case he has to fight off an intruder. Roy resorts to peeking through the side windows until he finally finds Polly’s bedroom, where she is in bed with Shapiro. A drunk Roy starts having an existential crisis. “She was cheating on me with THAT GUY?!”
He storms home and, when there, pulls out his telephone. He says has some vital information regarding a murder investigation.
A montage begins of Don Vaughn at the police station receiving the call, bringing in Roy for questioning, heading out to the La Brea tarpits and retrieving the gun that Roy buried there. The police arrive at Polly’s house where they arrest her on suspicion of murder.
While at jail, Polly is granted a visit with her lawyer, who just so happens to be her lover. He promises to get her out of this mess and she thanks him, for this and for everything he has brought into her life. She has one little favor to ask. He’s listening. In her home, there might be a man living in her attic? Shapiro sits in confused silence. She reiterates that there is definitely a man living in her attic. Can he go check on the man and see if he is ok? If he needs food or anything? Shapiro is still flabbergasted by Polly asks him “Please?” with her seductive eyes and he gives in.
Shapiro arrives at the home and lets himself in. He is unsure of what to do so he starts knocking on the walls. He starts to calling out to someone in the attic but gets no response. Finally, he finds a ladder and starts climbing up to the attic door. When he tries to open it, he finds resistance from the other side and this begins a tussle. It eventually causes Shapiro to fall from the ladder. The door opens up and Otto hesitatingly looks out. Shaprio, holding his head, says that he comes here in peace. Polly sent him. She has been arrested for murder, as probably head. Literally heard.
Otto emerges from the attic and even Shapiro is blinded by his paleness. When Otto begins to talk, he says he hasn’t spoken to another human other than Polly in years. He and Shapiro begin a conversation, which makes Otto happy. He tells him the whole backstory. The factory in Milwaukee. Moving here. The murder. Moving HERE. Shapiro realizes that this means he has heard everytime he had sex with Polly and Otto confirms.
Shapiro tells Otto that he has got to get out of dodge. If police discover him, he could see life in prison. He offers to drive Otto out of town and help him start a new life. They go outside together, the first time Otto has seen the sun in a while. He takes in how much as things have changed, especially technology like cars. They load up in Shapiro’s car and he takes him to The Valley. There, he drops Otto off at a bus station, where he decides that he will go to Portland. As he walks into the station, he notices one of his dime novels on a book stand. He decides that he is going to use his pen name - Walter Klein - going forward.
Polly is released on bail but is still under investigation by the police. She is grilled by Don Vaughn but she maintains her innocence. Even with the gun, Vaughn finds it difficult to explain the missing link. How did she get locked in the closet without the key if she’s the one that murdered Frank? He knows Roy didn’t help her with that part. Vaughn hears back from forensics and learns that the gun is so dilapidated from the tar pit that they are unable to obtain any DNA from it. This is Vaughn’s last hope so with this roadblock, the charges are dropped.
Dolly gets off free and lives out the rest of her days with her lawyer/lover Cecil Shapiro. Otto lives under the name Walter and, after five years there, marries a nice young woman named Anette. He is still a successful writer and is in contact with his sister in Europe and planning to visit one day.
The End.
Or is it?
We pick up seven years after the charges were dropped. Polly and Shapiro are still together but she has driven him insane. He admits to himself that he should have read the tea leaves a long time ago. They get into a big fight and he announces that he is leaving her. He tells her that she needs to pay him the legal fees he was owed years ago. She says that that was what the sex was for! He says that not admissible in court and he reiterates his demand. She is stubborn and unwilling to give in to a man’s request. She tells him that he can leave now.
Shapiro sits into the office of an older, more distinguished Don Vaughn, who is now District Attorney. Shapiro says that he is ready to tell Vaughn everything he wants to know about Polly Reisinger. And not the directionless stories that her neighbor told the police. No, this one will get the job done. He explains everything: Otto’s existence and everything that Otto told him. Now Shapiro is scared that Dolly will kill him for revealing this so he needs to be promised protection. Don Vaughn is in a stunned silence. He tells Shapiro that he will be protected.
At her idyllic wood cabin home in Oregon, Anette goes about the daily household chores. After completing it, she goes out onto her porch and stretches, taking in the midday sunshine. As her arms are stretched out, a second pair of arms is wrapped around her waist from behind. Walter asks how her day has been and she tells him she’s kept busy. She asks how the writing is coming along and he says wonderful - especially with her as his inspiration. He gives her a nice long kiss before police cars start to pull up in the driveway.
The policeman exit the vehicle and tell him that he is under arrest for the murder of Frank Reisinger. Anette doesn’t know what to say as Walter promises to her that everything will be ok.
Amid questioning, Otto confesses to the murder. He says that it was done in self-defense as he believed that Polly’s life was in danger. He admits that he is glad that this grief is now off of his shoulders. He says the biggest thing he is worried about is how will he explain this to his wife.
At Otto’s trial, the prosecution brings in Roy as a witness as he disposed of the gun. Otto’s lawyer argues that Roy was Polly’s ‘basement lover’ and was jealous that he was not her highest priority. The only reason he turned in the information in is because he was not higher on her pecking order. Roy flips out on the stand, causing a shaken Victoria - who has stuck with him - to leave the courtroom.
The jury find Otto guilty of manslaughter but the statute of limitations means that he is able to walk free. He collapses into his wife’s arms and says that he has a lot of explaining to do.
Don Vaughn views this as a miscarriage of justice and is not ready for someone to go unpunished for this murder. He works overtime trying to find evidence to convict Polly. After gathering his information, he announces that he is ready to charge Polly with conspiracy to commit murder.
At this point, Polly’s trial is the subject of much media attention. The state brings forth their witnesses but Polly remains convinced that there is nothing that indicates her intent to kill Frank. Vaughn says that he is ready to bring out one of his last witnesses. Out walks Mary (Maia Mitchell), now 30 and married. She takes a seat on the stand while Polly sits surprised.
Vaughn says that he took this case so seriously that he went to Milwaukee to cover every last step of Polly’s past. In her testimony, Mary details the tumultuous relationship between Frank and Polly that she witnessed firsthand. She also says she practically saw the gradual seduction of Otto, someone she knew well. And finally, the kicker: Polly once told her “There is only way to get rid of Frank and it is not divorce.” Polly sits still silent, knowing that she did indeed say that.
Vaughn then brings out his final witness: Otto Struber. Otto and Mary pass each other on the way to the stand. The mix of feelings - guilt, remorse, sorrow, longing - in their eyes is hard to explain but they don’t say anything to one another. When Otto gets on the stand, things fall apart for Vaughn as Otto talks wistfully about his days as Polly’s lover. He says that he had never felt more at home in that attic and in her company. Vaughn is red in the face and tries to get Otto to say that the murder was upon Polly’s insistence. Instead, he says that he shot him on his and his alone choice, Polly was just there as an innocent bystander. He never heard her talk about murdering Frank, she just wanted to explore love outside of him. When Otto heard the commotion, he just wanted to make sure she was safe. They were both vagabonds and they’d found what they were looking for in each other. Otto and Polly share a sad smile.
After a long jury deliberation, the judge announces that jury are deadlocked and so this trial has resulted in a hung jury. Vaughn, unable to come up with new evidence, declines pursuing a second trial. He laments to the judge that this was his Moby Dick.
30 Years Later
Otto, going by his real name, is back to Oregon with Anette. While home alone, he gets a letter in the mail informing him that Polly Reisinger has died. He stops reading momentarily and goes up to the attic that he built into his cabin. While up there, he finishes the letter, which says that Polly has left him a small amount of her inheritance to one Otto Struber. Otto closes the letter, smiling.
