It’s the summer of 1987 and Ronald Reagan is slowly but surely destroying the economy of the United States of America. James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) is fresh college graduate whose summer plans, of bumming around Europe with his mates, fall apart when his father is unexpectedly demoted. This new economic reality forces James into getting a summer job so that he’ll be able to pay his rent for Columbia university in the autumn. Desperation leads him to take a job running games at a rather dishevelled amusement park. It is here that James encounters the pretty but emotionally confused Em (Kirsten Stewart) and befriends a rag-tag bunch of souls whose only goal is to escape the mediocrity as soon as possible.