It’s 2002 in Portland, Oregon. The planet suffers from overpopulation, food scarcity, global war, and the devastating effects of climate change. A man named George Orr has the ability to have “effective” dreams that change reality. Disturbed by the experience, he abuses drugs to stop himself from dreaming. When Orr is caught stealing Pharmacy Cards to get more drugs, he attends therapy sessions with Dr. William Haber, an ambitious psychiatrist and sleep researcher, to avoid jail time. Though Haber initially thinks Orr is crazy, he changes his mind after witnessing Orr have an effective dream during a hypnotic sleep study. After this, Haber secretly exploits Orr’s condition to change the world, enhancing Orr’s dreaming capabilities using an EEG machine called the Augmentor. He also feeds Orr hypnotic suggestions to make him dream into reality utopic alternate realities that reflect Haber’s vision of a better world; however, the utopic changes Orr’s dreams create are always accomplished through dystopic means. For instance, when Haber gives Orr the hypnosuggestion to dream of world peace, Orr creates a world where formerly warring nations band together to defeat Alien invaders’ attack on the Moon. Meanwhile, each effective dream improves Haber’s status until he’s in charge of the entire world.
Orr consults with a lawyer named Heather Lelache to end his sessions with Haber, but Haber’s elevated social status prevents Heather from interfering with Orr’s treatment. Heather initially doubts Orr’s ability to change the world, but she changes her mind after observing Orr dream effectively during one of his sessions with Haber; Orr’s dream enables her to remember multiple realities. Orr falls in love with Heather and informs her that the real world was destroyed during nuclear war in April 1998, and their present world is just an alternate reality he dreamed of in the aftermath. In a final attempt to restore normalcy, Heather hypnotizes Orr to dream that Aliens are no longer on the Moon, but the plan backfires when Orr’s dream moves the Alien invasion from the Moon to Earth. A violent battle ensues, and a bomb strikes Mount Hood, causing the previously dormant volcano to awaken and erupt. After this, Orr dreams that the Aliens are nonviolent, and they assimilate into Portland’s human population. The Aliens are courteous citizens, though nobody can actually see them, since they’re always encased in big, clunky turtle-like suits that allow them to breathe the Earth’s air.
This normalcy doesn’t last for long, however, and Haber resumes his “treatment” of Orr. When Haber coerces Orr to eliminate racism, Orr creates a world that eliminates race itself, which makes everyone’s skin turn an identical shade of gray. In this new reality, Heather, who is biracial, ceases to exist. Orr later dreams of an alternate reality in which a gray, milder version of Heather is his wife. Speaking with an Alien helps Orr understand his condition and empowers him to confront Haber. During their final session, Haber “cures” Orr by making him dream that he can no longer dream effectively. Haber’s research with Orr enables him to use the Augmentor to have his own effective dreams. Haber’s first effective dream turns into a nightmare that causes the world to melt into a state of incoherent chaos. Orr detaches Haber from the Augmentor and saves the world, though elements of different realities now commingle in a single dimension.
Months later, Portland has mostly returned to normal. Haber’s knowledge of unreality puts him in a catatonic state, and he’s institutionalized. Orr has a job designing kitchen appliances for an Alien named Asfah. A restored Heather enters Asfah’s shop one day, though she has only a vague memory of Orr. Orr invites Heather to a nearby café, optimistic about the possibility of winning back her love.
