Digger

Aging oil magnate Digger Rockwell colludes with U.S. President Compson to allow Digger's company, Rockwell United, to extract oil in Alaska and Greenland. Despite repeated warnings about methane beneath the Greenland field, Digger proceeds with extraction operations. Soon after, he learns that a pocket has exploded unexpectedly which dislodged a massive ice shelf and sent it toward Europe. Environmental Safety Chief Dr. Nirav Ganesh warns that its collision with Norway in three days will trigger devastating tidal waves across the North Sea. Rather than inform the public, Compson and Digger establish an information firewall, gambling that the shelf might drift into the Atlantic Ocean and melt. They also discuss Compson's deteriorating health due to rectal cancer.

A prop failure reveals that all events depicted thus far are scenes in a satirical play, titled Fossil Fools, with actor Curtis Markson playing the lead role of Digger. The cast are conducting a dress rehearsal before the play's imminent premiere. Between scenes, Curtis learns that a plane carrying his daughter Hope has disappeared after encountering a category six hurricane. Producer Kenny offers to help locate her through his private intelligence network.

Continuing the play, the ice shelf strikes Europe, flooding major Northern European cities. The United States and Rockwell United are summoned before the European Parliament. Vice President Eddie represents Compson, who is undergoing surgery, and promises American assistance. Though accepting responsibility for the disaster, Digger argues that neither he nor his company can be blamed for society's dependence on oil, since he is merely fulfilling global demand. His speech provokes the attendees into fighting among themselves rather than confronting him. Later, a drunken Ganesh warns Digger that an even larger ice shelf has broken away from a Russian glacier and is heading toward Alaska.

Digger and Ganesh inform the sickly Compson. In drug-addled delusion, Compson proposes launching nuclear weapons at China as a distraction, but Military Chief of Staff Fitzgerald recommends targeting the ice shelf instead. Ganesh warns that the strike will fragment the shelf without slowing it down. Nevertheless, Compson authorizes the attack, and Ganesh's prediction proves correct.

Meanwhile, Curtis grows increasingly troubled by the play's satirical excesses. During rehearsal, he breaks down and accuses the production of distorting real events and trivializing the suffering of those who were harmed. Kenny, the real Digger's nephew, explains that he watched an earlier production of Fossil Fools years ago. He subsequently decided to purchase the rights to the play and stage his own production in the hopes that it would help him overcome his bitterness toward his uncle and give the public a constructive way to process its collective grief. Understanding the significance of his performance, Curtis completes the rehearsal.

Following the ice shelf disaster, Digger and his family are exiled to a converted offshore platform. Five years later, Eddie has succeeded Compson as president after his death, withdrawing all funding and military protection from the platform, which prompts most of Digger's employees to abandon him and steal his food, gold, and boats. Increasingly delusional, Digger attempts to bully God into providing food for the remaining occupants. When this fails, he scatters the ashes of his cat Maggie, shares a brief moment with Kenny (named Kyle in the play), and commits suicide by jumping into the polluted ocean.

The audience watching the play applauds Digger's death and Curtis's performance. Curtis's wife Agatha arrives to congratulate him and reveals that Hope has been found safe, thanks to Kenny. Theater management then announces a "Level 4" condition outside. Audience members put on respirators and leave the theater, emerging into a flooded, devastated city patrolled by soldiers, robots, and drones.