Three futuristic short films ( Happy Birthday, The Other Side and Reaching Normal ) are woven together through a wraparound narrative which finds an arrogant movie mogul s life transformed after his temp takes him hostage and forces him to watch three shorts as life lessons that will help him face his own personal demons. Happy Birthday is an adaptation of Keith Laumer s short story, Placement Test, about one woman s struggle against a chaotic system which nobody seems to understand --- least of all those who created it. The Other Side is an adaptation of Bruce Holland Roger s short story, Lifeboat on a Burning Sea, about Maas, a terminally ill scientist who secretly creates a human replica of himself in a bid for immortality. Reaching Normal is an adaptation of Walter M. Miller s short story, Command Performance, about a married housewife with ESP, who carries on a telepathic affair with an eccentric scientist.