In December 1996, Samson Masur, known as Sam, runs into his childhood friend Sadie Green at a subway station in Boston. Sam and Sadie haven’t seen each other in over six years. Sam is studying math at Harvard, while Sadie is a computer science major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Sam tries to persuade Sadie to get coffee together, but Sadie is in a rush to attend a class. Before Sadie leaves, she hands Sam a copy of a video game she designed. Sadie wants to know what he thinks of the game. The game is called Solution.

Marx Watanabe, Sam’s kind, wealthy, and good-looking roommate, spots the game later at their apartment, and the two decide to play Solution. After playing the game for several hours, Marx concludes the game’s designer is “sick as hell […] and maybe, a genius” (12). He assumes the designer is a man. Sam wants to share his input on the game with Sadie but realizes she didn’t leave him a contact number. He tracks down her apartment using the MIT registry. Sadie looks sad and withdrawn when Sam arrives, so he leaves. Marx tells him Sadie needs help and that Sam should visit her regularly.