But in just a moment we will see how thin a line separates that which we assume to be real with that manufactured inside of a mind.Arthur Curtis is a successful businessman planning a vacation to San Francisco with his loving wife Marian.

He is told that Arthur Curtis is merely a character he is playing, and that his real identity is Gerald Raigan, a movie star who is caught in the aftermath of a brutal divorce from his hostile ex-wife Nora, his own alcoholism and a declining career.

Apparently his behavior has been deteriorating for some time and the studio is fed up with him, thinking that he is simply faking mental illness to avoid his responsibilities.

Inside, he meets Brinkley, his (Raigan's) agent, who tells him that if he fails to continue work that day, he will drop him as a client.

Brinkley believes that he is having a nervous breakdown, and shows him the shooting script of a movie called The Private World of Arthur Curtis.

As Raigan/Curtis hears echoes of the workers dismantling the studio, he embraces Marian and desperately tells her that he never wants to lose her; and that they should leave for their vacation immediately.