In Chicago in the 1990s, a young man and a young woman occupy fourth floor apartments in buildings across the street. They watch each other surreptitiously, neither aware they are being watched. Both find the other attractive, but are convinced the other will not find them attractive. The woman often reads, while the man paints or develops photographs.

The young man is Jack Baker, recently relocated from Kansas to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. At an exhibition, no one pays attention to his work—a series of Polaroid photos of bending trees—until a graduate student named Benjamin Quince takes interest. He invites Jack to join the artist space he is developing in an old factory. He will allow Jack to live in the building in exchange for assisting with and documenting the cleanup. Jack agrees.

Benjamin is taken with the photographs Jack takes of the building’s interior and wants to display them on the internet. Jack thinks about the young woman he watches in the building across the alley.

The young woman is Elizabeth Augustine. She goes to the “Empty Bottle” bar to hear a band, invited by Brad, a fellow student, who talks endlessly about music.