In San Jose, California, David Kim looks through old photographs and videos of his daughter Margot and his late wife Pamela, who died from lymphoma nearly two years earlier, after which David and Margot became distant. One night, Margot goes to a friend’s house for a study-group. While David sleeps, Margot attempts to call him three times. The next morning, David is unable to reach Margot but assumes she has risen early to go to school. Later, he calls Margot’s piano instructor, but is informed that Margot had cancelled her lessons six months ago. David discovers that Margot had been pocketing the money for the lessons, before suddenly transferring $2,500 to a deleted Venmo account. Realizing that Margot is missing, David calls the police, and the case is assigned to Detective Rosemary Vick, who asks for information about Margot’s personality and friendships. David manages to access Margot’s Facebook and speaks to her contacts, but discovers that Margot had distanced herself from her friends since Pamela’s death. Vick calls to report that Margot made a fake ID for herself, and shows traffic-camera footage of Margot’s car at a highway-juncture outside of the city, suggesting that Margot may have deliberately run away.
David, unconvinced, discovers that Margot has been using a livestreaming site called YouCast and that she frequently spoke to a young woman called “fish_n_chips”. Vick investigates this, and reports back that “fish_n_chips” is innocent, having been sighted in Pittsburgh. From Margot’s Instagram, David finds that Margot frequently visited Barbosa Lake, which is near the highway-juncture where she was last seen. He drives to the lake and finds Margot’s Pokémon keychain on the ground. The police arrive and discover Margot’s car underwater and an envelope containing $2,500. A sweep of the surrounding area is conducted by the police and volunteers, but a local thunderstorm slows the progress. Margot’s body, however, is not found.
