Zachary Quinto sets out to research the strangest creatures dug up from the depths of the ocean and to see how much they lend to the monsters that are depicted in myth and legend. Starting in Australia, he meets with a teenager who was savagely attacked by a swarm of mysterious flesh-eating monsters, only to jump into the water himself the next day amongst highly venomous sea creatures.
From the carnivorous fish of American rivers to the eyeless monsters of the Atlantic Ocean, Zachary finds some merit in these old monster stories and is starting to understand just what we mean when we say that we know less than 1% of what waits in the depths below.

To recruit actors for his rehearsals, Nathan opens an acting studio in Los Angeles, teaching 'the Fielder Method', which involves covertly observing and imitating unaware subjects. Feeling insecure about his own performance, Nathan reenacts the class with actors and a fake Nathan as the teacher while the real Nathan plays the role of Thomas, a student. Nathan makes his students immerse themselves in other people's lives while he immerses himself in Thomas's life, even living in Thomas's home.
Nathan returns to Oregon, where his 'son', Adam, is now a teenager. Nathan and Joshua, the actor playing Adam, decide that Adam should lash out due to resentment of his absentee father and develop a drug problem, a situation that mirrors Angela's own past. Adam suffers an overdose and is tended to by emergency responders played by Thomas and another Fielder Method graduate. After he runs away from home, the 15-year-old Adam reverts to a 6-year-old since Nathan plans to relive his son's earlier years.