Searching for a way to address
overpopulation and
global warming,
Norwegian scientist Dr. Jørgen Asbjørnsen develops "downsizing", an irreversible process that shrinks organic material. He becomes part of the first group of human test subjects and is encouraged that the process reduces people to a height of approximately , drastically decreasing their consumption and waste. When the findings are revealed at a conference five years later, there is a global sensation. Ten years later, Paul and Audrey Safranek, a financially struggling married couple in
Omaha, see Dave and Carol Johnson, who have downsized, at Paul's high school reunion. Rather than the touted environmental benefits, Dave argues the real reason to downsize is that one's money goes much further when one is small. Paul and Audrey decide to undergo the procedure and move to Leisureland,
New Mexico, one of the fancier communities for small individuals. In a Leisureland recovery room after the procedure, Paul receives a call from Audrey, who says she backed out at the last minute and, because they are now different sizes, is leaving him. Because of his reduced size Paul has no choice but to take up solitary occupancy of a sprawling and luxurious mansion, previously selected by the couple using their greatly enhanced capital. Leisureland is presented as an attractive but bland consumerist enclave for the newly rich and downsized, protected by high walls and a dome. A year later, Paul signs his
divorce papers. Unable to afford the mansion Audrey chose, he relocates to an apartment and takes a job as a customer service representative at
Lands' End. He had let his
occupational therapy license lapse, not anticipating the need to work after being shrunk. He has started dating someone, but they break up, and Paul finds himself at a wild party thrown by his shady yet charming neighbor, Dusan. The next morning, Paul recognizes one of Dusan's house cleaners as
Ngoc Lan Tran, a
Vietnamese political activist who was jailed and downsized against her will, escaped in a television box, barely survived being shipped to the United States, and was brought to Leisureland a year ago to have her leg amputated. Wanting to assist Ngoc Lan with her prosthetic leg, Paul goes to her apartment in the
slums just outside the walls of Leisureland where those who had no money when they downsized or downsized illegally who now work as the
service workers of the community live. Paul had not thought about this part of the small economy, and is shocked by conditions in the slum. At her apartment, Ngoc Lan has Paul try to help her dying friend. When she finally lets him work on her prosthetic leg, he breaks it, so, until she can get a new one, he agrees to work for her cleaning service and also help her gather food from around the city to distribute throughout the slums. Dusan, upon learning what Paul is doing, attempts to release Paul from his obligation by taking him to deliver supplies to the original colony for small people, but Ngoc Lan unexpectedly decides to tag along, as she has a standing invitation to visit Dr. Asbjørnsen, who had heard about her ordeal. In a Norwegian
fjord, Dr. Asbjørnsen and his wife board the boat piloted by Dusan's friend Joris Konrad. Dr. Asbjørnsen announces it has just been determined conclusively that, due to the
positive feedback of Antarctic methane emissions, the human race will soon become extinct. Paul asks if downsizing can save humanity, but Dr. Asbjørnsen says the procedure came too late, as only three percent of the world has so far chosen to downsize. That night, Paul and Ngoc Lan have sex. At the colony, the travelers discover that, the next day, Dr. Asbjørnsen is enacting a contingency plan: he and the other colonists are going to enter a large underground vault, and their descendants will emerge when the surface environment stabilizes in about eight thousand years. Dusan and Joris are skeptical of the cult-like plan and say the extinction will not happen for hundreds of years, while Paul is excited to enter the vault and help with this effort to ensure the future of mankind. He asks Ngoc Lan to join him, but she refuses, saying the people in need of help will be those left above ground. As the door of the vault is closing, Paul changes his mind and steps outside. Back in Leisureland, Paul continues to work with Ngoc Lan to serve the people of the slums, deriving contentment from things like bringing dinner to an old man. ==Cast==