In a parallel present, delivery man Ray Tincelli is struggling to support himself and his ailing younger brother. After a series of two-bit hustles and unsuccessful swindles, Ray takes a job in a strange new realm of the gig economy: trekking deep into the forest, pulling cable over miles of terrain to connect large, metal cubes that link together the new quantum trading market. As he gets pulled deeper into the zone, he encounters growing hostility and the threat of robot cablers, and must choose to either help his fellow workers or to get rich and get out.
Olivia, una mujer transexual filipina indocumentada y muy preocupada por una posible deportación, trabaja como cuidadora de Olga, una abuela judía rusa, en Brighton Beach (Brooklyn). Cuando Olivia se queda sin opciones para obtener el estatus legal en los EE. UU. –el hombre estadounidense al que paga en secreto por una tarjeta verde se echa atrás–, se involucra románticamente con Alex, nieto de Olga, en búsqueda de una tarjeta verde basada en el matrimonio.
