The vet informs Sophie and Jason that if they take good care of the cat, it may live for up to five more years, but that they cannot take it home for another month because it is recovering from surgery.

Sophie and Jason decide to spend the intervening time living as freely as possible, knowing that they are signing up to have a cat for much longer than they intended.

One day while Jason is out, Sophie gets bored and calls the number on the back of the drawing from the vet's office, striking up a conversation with Marshall, the girl's father.

She visits him at home under the pretense of hiring him to design a sign for a dance performance she's developing, then returns another day and sleeps with him.

[7] The Future received generally positive reviews, holding a 71% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus states "A dark and whimsical exploration of human existence that challenges viewers as much as it rewards them.

[9] Film critic Richard Brody said that it "captures the stasis, the loneliness, the waste of an unrealized life spent in head-down pursuit" and called it a major work of art.