Alice is under the illusion of separateness, trapped in a world that is "other" than herself. She’s stuck constantly performing (people pleasing; perfectionism) to earn validation, worth and belonging. This is consequently an abandonment and rejection of the self - a proper reflection of her worldview. She hates herself, and sees herself as worthless and unworthy in every aspect of life.

While someone else may perform to earn love, Alice doesn’t believe she’s lovable or valuable. Everything she’s doing is to avoid pain, rejection, ridicule, or any affirmation of her vicious inner critic. This behavioral process is robbing her of authentic self-expression, the ability to exist "as she is," - to be a real person. She is a human-"doing," not a human-being.

Cleo shows up as a patron at Alice's workplace, and Alice spends the night dodging a run in. At the end of the night, when Alice is relaxing after a hard shift, she is unfortunately in the perfect position to run into a now-drunk Cleo. Cleo startles Alice, whose lightning-fast reaction time earns Cleo a violent check from Alice’s car door. When Alice sees that it's Cleo on the ground and realizes what she's done she feels obligated to take Cleo home safely.

When Alice's ordeal changes from avoiding Cleo to escorting her home, Alice gets caught up in Cleo's drunken mess of a night. Alice now entangled with Cleo must accompany her to work – Fabulism -  the following morning, thus beginning the coupling of our odd pair. With a prickly cynic, the isolated Alice on one hand, and the gooey hopeful, a "real person" Cleo on the other.