THE SHIFT
NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Ridwan
In 2008, a man named Kevin Garner (Kristoffer Polaha), who manages a hedge fund, lost his job because Bear Stearns fell apart.
Kevin goes to a bar, and there he meets Molly, a woman dared by her friends to talk to him. Molly and Kevin cross paths at the bar.
They really like each other and decide to get married. But now, after some years, Kevin and Molly are not close anymore because their son, Daniel, passed away.
Molly is now a bitter alcoholic, and Kevin is not happy with his job. He works for a boss named Brendan, who is much younger than him.
Brendan doesn’t like Kevin because Kevin’s parents lost their home in the Subprime mortgage crisis.
When Kevin finds out he’s going to lose his job, he leaves work and gets into a car crash. Strangely, a mysterious person known as “The Benefactor” (Neal McDonough) rescues Kevin from the wreck. The Benefactor reveals that Kevin has been moved to a different reality after the accident, and they are now in a parallel universe.
The Benefactor and Kevin go to a café, where Kevin notices that everyone is scared of The Benefactor. During a tense talk at the table, Kevin figures out that The Benefactor is Satan. The Benefactor proposes a deal to Kevin, saying he can have whatever he desires as long as he becomes one of his “shifters.” These are people who have given up their souls and use “shifting” to trouble other souls by moving them to different realities. Kevin doubts The Benefactor’s claim and requests proof. In response, The Benefactor demonstrates his power by “shifting” a waitress named Tina (Rose Reid) to a reality where she never existed. When Kevin sees the distress this causes Tina, he rejects the offer and turns to prayer, seeking help from God. Angry, The Benefactor suddenly disappears, leaving Kevin stuck in the dystopian alternate universe.
Distraught by his actions, Kevin apologizes to Tina’s family and walks away, regretful of the consequences.
Five years later, Kevin is still in the oppressive reality, using a fake name because he turned down The Benefactor.
He tries to recreate Bible verses from memory and shares them secretly through his friend Gabriel (Sean Astin), even though spreading scripture is against the law in this reality. Kevin also narrates the story of Job to his neighbor, Rajit, and his family. He describes how this reality endured ongoing conflicts until The Benefactor showed up and reshaped the world according to his image.
Due to the widespread war that has ravaged the planet, most people reside in impoverished, run-down cities controlled by The Benefactor’s oppressive secret police.
Kevin finds comfort in visiting a movie theater owned by Russo (John Billingsley), where they broadcast live feeds from alternate realities.
In the theater, Kevin observes various versions of Molly, including one where she is a single mother working as a nurse. Kevin decides to obtain the shifting technology from one of the “shifters,” but their identities are kept secret.
Later, Kevin discovers that The Benefactor is returning to this reality for the first time in five years. Kevin obtains an illicit firearm from Gabriel and tries to compel The Benefactor to return him to his former life. Unfortunately, the plan doesn’t work, and after Kevin rejects another offer, The Benefactor vanishes again.
In the following chaos, the secret police gravely injure Rajit, and Gabriel is killed. Kevin discovers that Gabriel is secretly a shifter and takes his device, using it to shift himself to another reality.
Kevin travels through various universes, encountering Tina, who is mentally unstable and confined to a psychiatric ward.
Following a rejection from a version of Molly, The Benefactor brings Kevin back to the totalitarian universe and shifts Tina to the theater. The Benefactor gives Kevin a choice: he can either reunite Tina with her family and never see Molly again or sell his soul, allowing him to be with Molly forever.
Kevin rejects The Benefactor’s offer and chooses to restore Tina’s life. Suddenly, Kevin finds himself shifted to another reality. In this new world, Molly is the nurse and single mother he had glimpsed before.
Kevin initiates a conversation with Molly, reminiscent of how they first met, and the two decide to get married once again.
Kevin acknowledges that this may not be his original universe, but it has become his home.
The scene shifts to Kevin happily playing with his newborn son and adopted daughter, highlighting that he has received double the joy of what he initially lost.
