Ronna (Sarah Polley), working overtime to avoid being evicted, is approached at work by Adam (Scott Wolf) and Zack (Jay Mohr), asking if she can supply 20 hits of ecstasy, which they were hoping to buy from her co-worker Simon (Desmond Askew). Realizing she can profit from the deal, she approaches Simon's dealer Todd Gaines (Timothy Olyphant) for the drugs, but as she is unable to pay, leaves her friend and co-worker Claire (Katie Holmes) with Todd while she makes her deal.
On trying to make the deal, Ronna grows suspicious of Burke (William Fichtner), a stranger with Adam and Zack, who presses her for the drugs. In a panic she flushes the drugs down the toilet and leaves. Ronna then steals aspirin to replace the ecstasy she disposed of, helped by her friend and co-worker Mannie (Nathan Bexton), who had swallowed two of the pills without knowing their strength.