Fact1: brain/computer interface allows sensations to be recorded from person 's brain, Fact2: team includes estranged husband and wife as well as Michael 's colleague Lillian Reynolds, Fact3: Karen dons recorder while working with Michael and Lillian, Fact4: Lillian is pressured by backers to admit as member of team former colleague, Fact5: Michael decides to experience Lillian 's recording Following funeral
Output: A team of scientists invent a braincomputer interface that allows sensations to be recorded from a persons brain and converted to tape so that others may experience them. The team includes estranged husband and wife Michael and Karen Brace, as well as Michaels colleague Lillian Reynolds. At CEO Alex Tersons instruction, the team demonstrates the device to investors in order to gain financing. Karen dons the recorder while working with Michael and Lillian. When Michael plays the tape back, the group realizes that emotional experiences are also recorded. Michael tapes his memories of times with Karen, which he shares with her, and it leads to their reconciliation. Lillian is pressured by backers to admit as a member of the team a former colleague, Landon Marks, whom she sees as part of the militaryindustrial complex. She disagrees with their plan to have the invention developed for military use. One team member, Gordy Forbes, has sexual intercourse while wearing the recorder, and he shares the tape with colleagues, including Hal Abramson. Hal splices one section of the tape into a continuous orgasm, which results in sensory overload, leading to his forced retirement. Tensions increase as the possibilities for abuse become clear. Already suffering from heart problems and a constant cigarette smoker, Lillian suffers a heart attack while working alone. Realizing that she is about to die, Lillian records her experience. Following her funeral, Michael decides to experience Lillians recording, but he nearly dies when the playback causes his body to simulate the sensations and effects of a heart attack. Michael modifies his console to filter the physical output, and he replays the tape. Viewing Lillians death experience, he sees memory bubbles—moments from Lillians life. Michael experiences Lillians memories of a humorous exchange with Michael as he plays with an industrial robot, a surprise birthday party, and being devastated when Alex tells her that an earlier project has been cancelled. A team of scientists wanting to discover the machines military capabilities is monitoring the equipment as Michael plays Lillians final tape. They have Gordy also experience the tape, but Landon ignored the advice of the monitoring staff that Micheal has made modifications to his playback terminal. As such Gordy dies of a heart attack whilst Landon and the others watch on in surprise. Michaels playback is cut short by Hal, but having witnessed a digital neardeath experience makes Michael curious to see the entire tape. Alex has the recording locked away and tells Michael he will not be allowed to view it. When he returns to work, Michael walks in on Landon Marks and a team of outsider technicians going through his research records and protests to Alex who responds by firing Michael and Karen. Michael attempts to hack into the labs computers. Hal advises him to look under Project Brainstorm, a program the military has created to redevelop their invention for torture and brainwashing. Michael and Karens son Chris, wanting to experience the special device, is inadvertently exposed to one such tape, causing him to have a psychotic experience which results in his hospitalization—there Michael learns of Gordys fate and deduces that Alex was behind his murder. Rather than see his creation perverted, Michael vows to destroy his work and enlists the help of Karen and Hal. Michael and Karen head to the Pinehurst Resort and, realizing they are under surveillance, stage a fight that results in Karen leaving for Hals house. As the two feign reconciliation over the phone, Michael accesses the Brainstorm computer via another phone line, while Karen hacks into the system and sabotages the robots that manufacture the interface terminals. Karen shuts down the security system, locking the staff outside and enabling Michael to load Lillians tape and experience it uninterrupted. With the plant in chaos, Robert Jenkins orders Michaels arrest. Michael escapes their agents and drives to a phone booth at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. He reconnects with the computers and accesses the final part of the tape, beyond the point of Lillians physical death. Karen leaves the house to meet with Michael. Hal and his wife, Wendy, send the last of Karens commands to the company computers, shutting down the plant. Karen arrives at the Wright Brothers Memorial while the tape is playing. Michael bears witness to the afterlife, experiencing a brief vision of hell before traveling away from Earth and through the universe, even after the tape ends. He ultimately has visions of angels and departed souls flying into a great cosmic Light, which seems to be heaven. Michael then collapses. Karen sobs, believing him dead. She pleads for Michael to stay alive. Awakening from the experience, he weeps with joy and embraces Karen.