Still scarred from the trauma of being terrorized by a stalker, Sawyer Valentini receives treatments at the Highland Creek Behavioral Center. However, shortly after she unwittingly commits herself to the mental institution and is unable to leave, she catches sight of a facility staffer who, she is convinced, is actually her stalker. But is he real or a product of her delusion?

The story of a man whose rebelliousness pits him against the head nurse of a mental ward and the full spectrum of institutional repression.

Most days, Arthur Fleck is bullied in public as he works as a clown-for-hire, but his slow descent into madness is hurried along by his mother's failing health, their strained connection with the rich Wayne family, and his failed comedy career.