Ed Saxberger (Willem Dafoe) is a quiet New York post office worker who wrote a well-regarded book of poetry in the late 1970s, before disappearing into obscurity. Decades later, a young admirer (Edmund Donovan) tracks him down and introduces him to the “Enthusiasm Society”, a group of privileged twenty-somethings who see Saxberger as an overlooked literary genius from a bygone era of New York.
Flattered by their attention, Saxberger is drawn back into the artistic world he left behind and develops a fascination with Gloria (Greta Lee), the group’s charismatic theatrical spirit. But as he becomes increasingly involved with his new circle, he begins to question whether they truly admire his work or simply romanticise the idea of the past they have created around him.
