On an unseasonably hot day in November, Hiro, a Japanese immigrant in New York City, decides to butcher a live chicken for dinner. While showing his visiting cousin Kei around, the pair encounter a medical emergency on the street. After they mishandle the situation and end up causing more harm than good, Hiro cannot bring himself to kill the chicken. Throughout, Kei observes his cousin’s new lifestyle as Hiro and his pregnant wife prepare for their move to Chinatown. As the day wears on, Hiro and Kei’s actions highlight how their lives are complicit in the structural violence that surrounds them.
After a devastating terrorist attack annihilates New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, the US government develops state-of-the-art drone patrols to counter terrorist activities and police the population. When Patterson Endcott, a scientist and drone controller, finds his name listed as a potential terrorist, he unites with a group of resistance fighters to spearhead the fight against the tyrannical government.