Nash spends half his time online and is haunted by the death of his love Helena in a virus attack a few years back.
Nash recruits a hacker, Morel, Helena's brother, to hack security video from Interpol servers.
She tells him that Synternis Corporation is responsible for the death of Helena, as they first developed the virus capable of killing players while online.
To escape his painful memories, Nash becomes one of the Connected and uses his fortune to add features and comforts to his online avatar.
[1] Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times called it "ambitious but leaden", criticizing the acting and plot.