It Starts with Us

Atlas Corrigan, a successful restaurant owner and chef, inspects graffiti that has been left on one of his businesses overnight. After discovering that the vandal also broke into the restaurant and stole some food, an empathetic Atlas decides not to call the police. He eagerly awaits a text from Lily Bloom, his first love, whom he ran into unexpectedly on the street earlier that morning; after learning that Lily is now divorced from her abusive ex-husband, Atlas hopes that he and Lily will be able to rekindle their relationship.

Overwhelmed by her encounter with Atlas, Lily struggles to concentrate at work; she worries about how her ex-husband, Ryle, will respond to her potentially starting a relationship with Atlas. They have been peacefully co-parenting their daughter Emerson for the past year, but Lily is not entirely comfortable with the arrangement: Desperate to facilitate a healthy relationship between Emerson and Ryle, Lily never reported Ryle’s abuse to the police. To process her thoughts, Lily escapes work and writes a letter to television host Ellen DeGeneres, a practice she did as a child in her journal. In the letter, she debates texting Atlas and conveys the turbulent history of her relationship with Ryle.