Ink
The film begins with a businessman, John Sullivan (Chris Kelly), in a hurry to get into his car. He appears to be severely stressed as he begins driving down the city streets. When he goes through a lighted intersection he is broad sided by another driver that is distracted by hot coffee in his lap. As he becomes unconscious, he dreams of playing with his young daughter, Emma (Quinn Hunchar). Emma pretends to be kidnapped and tells John to "save" her from the "monsters", although John seems exasperated and tells her to have her mother do it instead. Eventually, however, John gives in and runs to "save" his daughter, while Emma laughs and embraces him.
It is revealed that dreams are controlled by beings from an alternate plane of reality. The beings are spirits of deceased people from earth and are divided into distinct groups: Storytellers (bearers of good dreams), Incubi (cause of nightmares), and Drifters (those in a state of limbo who cause neither good or bad dreams). As the Storytellers and Incubi perform their daily work in the night, a Drifter known as Ink goes to Emma's room and removes her soul from her body. Although a number of Storytellers try to prevent the action, Ink escapes with the girl's soul into the dreamworld, leaving Emma's body unconscious. However, in the dreamworld, Ink is unable to open a portal to the Incubi's headquarters, where he intends to take Emma's soul. He is told that he must find and barter with two other Drifters to acquire parts of a code that will enable him to achieve entry into the headquarters.
Meanwhile, John, whose life has attained a sense of repetition and perfection, faces turmoil when an account he has been working to acquire is about to be swept out from under him. Soon after, Ron Evans (Steve Sealy), John's estranged father in law, comes to inform John that Emma is in a coma and has been placed in a hospital. Although Ron begs John to go and see the girl, John refuses and berates Ron, saying that the father-in-law turned the world against him. Shortly after, Ron is ordered out of John's office. It is revealed that Ron and his wife were given custody of Emma after the death of John's wife Shelly (Shannan Steele) in a car accident, due to John's grief-induced addiction to alcohol and drugs.
At the same time in the dreamworld, the Storytellers Allel, Gabe, and Sarah (played by Jennifer Batter, Eme Ikwuakor, and Shelby Malone, respectively) work to find a way to awake Emma. In order to do this, they receive the help of Jacob (Jeremy Make), an eccentric blind spirit known as a "Pathfinder". Meanwhile, a Storyteller named Liev (Jessica Duffy) confronts Ink and attempts to discourage him from delivering Emma to the Incubi. After Ink threatens to murder Emma if Liev continues to pursue him, Liev surrenders to Ink as a prisoner. It is revealed that Ink is taking Emma's soul to the Incubi in order to become one of them and cease to be a Drifter. Soon after, Ink successfully barters with two Drifters for parts of the code. As Ink's prisoner, Liev tries to bolster Emma's bravery in order to thwart Ink.
During this time, the Pathfinder Jacob unveils his abilities to the Storytellers: tapping into the "beat of the world" in order to cause physical changes that affect the course of time. Through a chain of events, Jacob causes several small accidents that culminate in a truck running a red light and crashing into John's car, revisiting an opening scene of the film. Due to his injuries, John is taken to a hospital, which turns out to be the same hospital where Emma is checked in. After recalling his happiness before his wife died, John walks to Emma's room, guarded by Allel as an unseen battle ensues between the Storytellers and Incubi.
In the dreamworld, Liev discovers that Ink arrived after his human counterpart committed suicide, and that he, being ashamed of his hideous and scarred appearance, believes the Incubi will help him. After making their way to the stronghold of the Incubi, Ink offers Emma and Liev as his payment to the leader. As Liev attempts to stand up to the leader of the Incubi, she is mortally wounded. While dying, Liev pleads with Ink to "remember". Suddenly, Ink has a revelation: he recalls that Emma died in the hospital without her father's presence, and John, driven to further depression and regret, shot himself in despair, when his soul entered the dreamworld and became the Drifter known as Ink. Ink understands that he is, in fact, John Sullivan's soul from a future in which Emma dies and he does not visit her at the hospital. In this realization, Ink rushes at the Incubi and kills them to rescue his daughter, mirroring the dream scene in the beginning of the film. After the fight is over, Emma's soul embraces Ink, realizing that it is her father. In the normal world, Pathfinder Jacob activates a device that calls the other Storytellers as reinforcement, with the onslaught of Storytellers defeating the Incubi. John finally makes his way to Emma's room. The film closes as Emma awakes to find her father at her bedside.
good versus evil, psychedelic, alternate reality, flashback