At a town hall meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, Councilman Ed Harris informs townspeople about an upcoming movie shoot. Harris explains that the Yeagers, a local family, will be the stars of an “unusual” production directed by comedian Albert Brooks. Harris introduces Albert, who explains that he will be filming the Yeagers in order to capture the drama of their daily lives and asks the townspeople to act naturally when interacting with them on camera. Albert points to two scientists in the room, Dr. Howard Hill and Dr. Ted Cleary, who are acting as psychological consultants on the project. Months earlier, at The National Institute of Human Behavior (NIHB) in Boulder, Colorado, over two hundred families who applied to be in Albert’s film are gathered for final testing. Albert is filmed showing the different technologies that will be used during production, including a newly developed camera, the Ettinauer 226-XL, shaped like a helmet so that it can be worn over a cinematographer’s head. After six weeks of testing, two families remain: the Feltons, from Wisconsin, and the Yeagers, from Arizona. Albert chooses the Yeagers as his subjects because he does not wish to spend the winter in Wisconsin. Soon after, Albert buys a home in Phoenix, across the street from the Yeagers, and sends them on a two-week trip to Hawaii while he settles in. Upon their return, he greets them at the airport with Drs. Hill and Cleary. Cleary informs the family that he plans to write an article on the project for the Journal of American Psychology. When they return home, Albert introduces the film crew to their subjects: veterinarian Dr. Warren Yeager, his wife Jeanette, and their children Eric and Lisa. Afterward, he dismisses everyone but the cameramen, explaining that he had to hire a full crew for union purposes but will not use them. That night, the Yeagers are filmed eating dinner. Jeanette complains of menstrual cramps at the table, wearing a bathrobe and a heating pad on her lap. Aware of the cameras, Warren becomes embarrassed. When he tries to encourage the children, Eric and Lisa, to be polite, they storm away from the table. Warren and Jeanette argue, and Jeanette blames her cramps on an intrauterine device (IUD) she had inserted at Warren’s behest. Fed up, Jeannette announces that she will have her IUD removed on Monday. At his house across the street, Albert confers with Hill and Cleary about the events of the day, and Cleary suggests they should have given the family more time to recover from their trip before filming. The next day, Jeanette leaves to stay at her friend Margaret’s house, claiming that she shouldn’t be filmed until she feels better. Albert tries to stop Jeanette from leaving and asks if one cameraperson may accompany her, but she refuses. Two days later, Jeanette requests a private meeting with Albert. At a shopping center, she finds him waiting with cameramen and is upset that they’re not alone. Nevertheless, she thanks Albert for allowing her time away and tells him that she likes him. To show her gratitude, Jeanette says the crew may follow her to her gynecologist appointment the next day; however, she forbids Albert from telling Warren, who may not approve. Confessing that she and her husband have been arguing lately, she cries on Albert’s shoulder and kisses him on the mouth before walking away. In the morning, Jeanette’s gynecologist, Dr. Maxwell Rennert, becomes hysterical when he sees the camera crew and covers his face, alluding to previous legal troubles. Albert attempts to bribe him, then recognizes him as “the baby broker,” a corrupt doctor who was documented on Sixty Minutes for selling babies on the black market. On the sixth day of filming, Jeanette calls Albert to tell him that her grandmother had a stroke. When Albert realizes she called him before Warren, he discourages Jeanette from forming an attachment to him. On the day of Lisa’s confirmation, Warren must go to the veterinary hospital for an emergency, and the rest of the family becomes disappointed when the film crew follows Warren instead of Lisa. As Warren prepares to perform a bypass surgery on a horse, he orders too much anesthetic and kills the animal. Concerned about his professional reputation, Warren asks Albert not to include the footage of the operation in the film, but Albert makes no promises. Soon after, Jeanette’s grandmother dies and the film crew attends the funeral. The family falls into a depression, and Albert asks Jeanette to go to dinner with him in the hopes of cheering her up. Jeanette rejects his offer, having realized that she must improve her relationship with Warren. Albert asks her to start talking in front of the cameras again, and though she promises, the Yeagers continue to live in silence. Later, Albert meets with Dr. Jeremy Nolan and Dr. Anne Kramer from NIHB, as well as Cleary, Hill, and a studio executive named Martin Brand, to discuss the film. An analysis of the Yeagers’ behavior since the start of filming has determined that the project is causing significant changes in the family members, and Albert is now filming a “false reality.” They review footage that shows Warren has begun drinking coffee with both hands, instead of using only his right as he did in the beginning. Cleary suggests that Albert move out of the house across from the Yeagers to allow the family more privacy and stability. When Albert refuses, Cleary quits the project. Sometime later, Albert gives the Yeagers a big-screen television, and the family’s mood improves. On the forty-sixth day of filming, however, an article in the local newspaper profiles an upcoming book, Nightmare in the Desert, written by Dr. Cleary and chronicling Albert’s project. News reporters follow the Yeagers around town, and an emergency meeting is held during which Dr. Isaac Steven Hayward from NIHB tells Albert that his efforts have become counterproductive, and the family members are “close to complete personality disintegration.” The Yeagers arrive at Albert’s house, interrupting the meeting to announce their resignation. After everyone leaves, Albert cries to a cameraman about his failure while Dr. Hayward conducts an exit interview with the Yeagers . Desperately searching for ideas to save the picture, Albert remembers the fire at the end of Gone with the Wind and decides to set fire to the Yeagers’ home. Moments later, he interrupts their meeting with Hayward wielding a torch. As the house burns down, Albert screams triumphantly in front of the camera. The Yeagers are eventually paid their $25,000 fee and their house is rebuilt, and Cleary’s book fails upon publication.