In Future, Government Makes Babies Illegal After Earth Becomes a Wasteland

In the near future, climate change causes  environmental collapse and resources become scarce. The elite get to live in nice habitable  places called the New World while the lower classes are stuck in a wasteland known as Old  World. However because of the lack of resources, even the elite suffer from very strict  regulations.

Childbirth is controlled by the government and couples interested in having  kids must go through a seven-day assessment to determine if they’re suitable to raise a child.  One day a young Mia is swimming in the sea when she notices her mother calling her from the  shore. She freezes and with just a blink her mother disappears.

A panicking Mia starts  swimming again as fast as she can and when she resurfaces she’s older because all this had been  a memory. Afterward Mia returns to her smart home, which warns her of changes in the weather  and keeps track of her exercise and health. She enters a glowing room that allows her to visit  the virtual reality created by her husband Aaryan, which he uses to design pets.

After they discuss  their plans for the day, Mia does maintenance on the machines in her greenhouse and takes care  of her plants, gathering a few ingredients for dinner. That night after dinner Mia and Aaryan  discuss how nervous they are because they’ll be going through the assessment soon. They end up  getting naughty but Mia can’t stop thinking about her memory of the sea.

After Aaryan falls asleep,  she goes to check on her plants again to have some peace of mind. The next day Virginia arrives at  the couple’s home. She’ll be the assessor who will be living with them for a week to decide if they  should be parents.

If the couple wants to quit to examination at any point, they have the right to.  Mia wants to know the criteria they’ll be assessed on but Virginia only says that the less they know,  the better. She claims she wants to know the real them.

Then Virginia interviews them separately.  She makes them talk about their relationship, the details of their naughty time, and their  childhoods. Mia explains her mother and her sister were sent to the Old World when she was little, so  she doesn’t remember them well.

Virginia realizes Mia’s mother was a dissident and wonders if  Mia also has bad opinions against the state, but Mia assures her she doesn’t. When Virginia  asks why they want a child, they talk about helping the future of society, feeling fulfilled,  and giving a child a sense of belonging. Mia says she has that sense now but when she  was a kid she didn’t.

Afterward the couple gives Virginia a tour of the house. She tests the  kid’s bed and complains there are loose springs, ignoring the couple when they say that the  mattress has no springs. She approves of their bedroom but doesn’t look impressed by Aaryan’s  virtual space.

Next she visits the greenhouse and finds it curious that the only thing Mia has  of her mother’s is a flower. Virginia asks for full access to every area of the house, which  the couple has already programmed into the AI. She also asks for samples of urine, saliva, blood,  hair, and private fluids.

The couple already sent those but she has to double-check in case of  cheating. During dinner, Virginia isn’t impressed by Mia’s rustic dinner made with ingredients from  the greenhouse. She asks Aaryan about his scar and he explains animal activists attacked him for his  invention, which is dumb because his virtual pets exist precisely so the few real animals that  are left in the world can be protected.

These activists bombed the university research lab and  Aaryan had to jump through a window to escape. The bombers were sent to the Old World as punishment  and Mia thinks that’s what they deserve, which makes Virginia wonder if her mother deserved  to be sent away too. When the couple goes to bed, Aaryan tells Mia that Virginia uses the subject  of her mother on purpose to push her buttons, so she should stay calm.

Then they start getting  dirty only to freak out when they notice Virginia watching them. She explains she has to assess all  aspects of their relationship, including this. The couple feels uncomfortable but they really  want that child, so they have no choice but to keep going while she watches.

The next morning the  couple asks Virginia about some mysterious bags of baby food that arrived, but she doesn’t answer any  of their questions and instead plays with a spoon. When they sit down for breakfast, Virginia starts  acting like a child, pushing her bowl or pounding it on the table. Mia gets nervous and Virginia  accuses her of raising her voice.

Things get awkward when Mia pounds her fist on the table,  so Aaryan uses some games to feed Virginia. This works and she starts eating by herself, but she  also throws food at them. Aaryan curses when some food gets in his eye and Virginia keeps repeating  the bad words while he rushes to the bathroom to wash up.

Mia helps him with some eyedrops and they  agree on setting some boundaries. When they return to the kitchen, the food is all over the walls  and furniture but Virginia is gone. They start searching the house and notice a mess in every  room.

Aaryan’s virtual office is making a horrible noise while Virginia dances. The couple tries  talking to her but the noise is louder than their voices. Eventually Aaryan manages to yell “stop”  loud enough to interrupt the music and tells Virginia this isn’t a toy, but she only responds  that this test is over.

In the evening another mysterious package arrives. Inside there’s a toy  house for their child and Virginia tells them they have until morning to put it together. The pieces  have funny shapes and the instructions aren’t very clear, so the couple has lots of trouble building  it.

When it looks like they’ve made some progress, the toy collapses. They continue to work hard  through the night and finally manage to finish it, but there’s a piece left. The instructions say  that for safety reasons all pieces must be used, so Mia rushes to the beach and throws the  remaining piece into the sea.

When Virginia wakes up, she takes a close look and says they’ve  done well. In fact she decides this will be her room and asks the couple for her things. Later  Virginia watches Aaryan work and shares the story of her dog.

When the government called for a cull,  she didn’t like the idea of her beloved pet dying with a stranger so she killed him herself, which  left her crying for days. Aaryan invites her to touch the monkey he’s designed and she’s impressed  by how realistic the fur feels, but suddenly she announces she’s bored and wants to play a game.  By the time Mia comes to check on them, Virginia and Aaryan are pretending to be wild animals  jumping on each other in the jungle.

Mia finds it curious because Aaryan always said his back never  recovered from the window jump. The next day they go to the beach and the couple has to make sure  that Virginia doesn’t go anywhere dangerous. They play hide-and-seek and Mia gets upset because  Aaryan and Virginia keep finding each other but never her.

She also notices that Virginia is  calling Aaryan “daddy”. Mia tries to join them when they start working on a sand castle, only for  Virginia to walk off and start another castle on her own. Mia is starting to wonder if she can do  this and Aaryan reminds her she’s not her mother.

At that moment they notice Virginia is gone and  her shoes are in the water. A wave soon drops Virginia on the sand and Mia rushes to her side to  help her out. A cold Virginia walks away from her and Mia can’t help snapping, wondering if helping  is wrong and if she should’ve let her drown.

Virginia immediately leaves and Aaryan scolds  Mia for reacting like this. On their way home, Virginia asks Aaryan to carry her. Soon  it starts raining and Aaryan’s back hurts, so he has to put her down.

Mia volunteers to  carry her instead but Virginia says she only wants daddy. When they reach the house Virginia refuses  to go in, so Mia tells her she can still hate her inside where it’s warm. This convinces Virginia  to follow her.

Afterward Mia gives Virginia a bath and they have fun together with the bubbles.  While brushing her hair, she shares that her mother used to do this for her. Mia even kisses  Virginia on the top of her head, finally feeling a connection.

Then a letter arrives announcing the  couple will be hosting a dinner party tonight, which Virginia confirms is another test. The  couple rushes to cook a wonderful meal and put on their nicest clothes. Soon the guests arrive and  Virginia bursts out of the toy house pretending to be a child.

During dinner Walter tells everyone  how Mia used to be a brilliant student of his and his wife Evie looks very annoyed. Mia calls Aaryan  to the kitchen to explain that before they met, she had an affair with Walter and at the time she  was so young that she didn’t understand he took advantage of her. Clearly Evie knows and hates her  for it.

Seeing Mia shaking, Aaryan comforts her and reminds her these people were sent on purpose  to get on their nerves so they can’t let them win. When they return to the table, Mia has to help  Virginia to eat and stop her from choking. Soon another guest arrives and Aaryan is surprised  to see his mother, who isn’t happy to be here.

Virginia continues to misbehave and Mia tries  her best to keep her under control while the adults at the table start arguing if it’s a good  idea to have kids while humanity lacks resources. Apparently rumors from across the border  say that people are healing and reproducing, so rebuilding the Old World isn’t impossible.  As the conversation touches on the subject of population control, Virginia starts running  around and Mia follows her until she sits next to the guests.

Mia tries to move her and Virginia  responds by hitting her. However Mia takes a deep breath and swears she isn’t mad, which helps  Virginia finally obey. The group tries to have a lovely toast yet Aaryan’s mother ruins it when  she reveals that he tried to have a kid with his previous partner but they were denied.

Mia didn’t  know about this and rushes to the kitchen to take a break. Aaryan follows her and explains he didn’t  tell her because he didn’t want to upset her, but asks her to talk about this later. When  they return to the table, Evie starts talking badly about Mia’s mother and all the people  in the Old World.

She also explains she’s 153 so she remembers what the world used to be like.  Virginia sits on Evie’s lap and asks for details, so Evie shares how hard it was to survive when the  apocalypse happened. She thinks dividing society into two worlds was necessary to save humanity and  young people will ruin it by having more babies.

Suddenly Evie gets furious and pushes Virginia  off because she peed on her lap. Mia is devastated to see Virginia hurt on the ground and when Evie  says that being a bad mother runs in her family, Mia slaps her. After all the guests leave Mia puts  Virginia to bed and smiles when she’s thanked for defending her.

Virginia shocks her by kissing her  lips and Mia immediately pulls away. Then Mia goes to her bedroom and argues with Aaryan for not  telling her about trying for a kid with another person, unaware that Virginia can hear them yell.  Aaryan explains he hid it because he didn’t want her to think he wasn’t good enough.

The couple  apologizes to each other and admits this is very hard, but at least the assessor will be gone in  two days. This is also heard by Virginia. In the middle of the night Virginia goes to their bedroom  because she’s had a bad dream.

Aaryan tells her to go back to her bed but Mia lets her sleep with  them. The next day Mia receives a call from the hospital because her sister has had an embolism  and is in intensive care. Mia gets ready to travel and Aaryan thinks it’s a bad idea for her to  leave while they’re still doing the assessment.

When they tell Virginia, she says she’s allowed  to go but this will terminate the assessment process. An argument ensues and Mia says there  should be an exception for emergencies, she also points out that going to take care of her sister  is a good example to set for a child. Virginia agrees to give her an exception but she must come  back before six in the morning.

That night Aaryan tries sleeping alone but Virginia climbs on top of  him, saying she had a bad dream. Then she starts getting naughty with him, claiming it’s part of  the assessment and it’ll stay between them. Aaryan tries saying no but Virginia slaps him and keeps  going until they’re both done.

When Mia comes back from her trip she finds them both on the bed and  manages to get in the middle. The next morning Mia explains that it wasn’t her sister at the  hospital, there was a mix-up with someone with the same name. Aaryan gets suspicious of Virginia, who  calls Mia “mommy” to make her smile.

Afterward Mia asks Aaryan to keep an eye on Virginia while she  goes for a swim. Virginia bothers him while he’s working so he tells her they can play later. When  she goes outside Virginia tries calling for Mia but she doesn’t hear her.

As revenge, she goes to  the greenhouse and starts destroying everything, including the gas installation and the electric  cables. These things combine to start a fire and Virginia panics as she calls for her “parents”.  The smoke quickly makes her weak and she can barely move, not to mention the falling debris  blocks the door.

Mia is slowly making her way back but starts running when she sees the smoke in the  distance. Aaryan is working and the house AI has to tell him about an emergency in the greenhouse.  He approaches the building but the memories of the bombing incident make him terrified of the fire. 

Mia is kicking the door but it won’t go down because of the debris blocking it. She throws a  rock and manages to create a hole in the door big enough to get inside. Virginia is non-responsive  so Mia has to drag her body to the hole and push her out.

Once the family is far enough from the  fire, Mia has to watch how her beloved project burns down. That night Virginia refuses to eat and  leaves the table. Mia follows her to the beach and calls her out for destroying her greenhouse, but  Virginia just walks away again.

The following day Virginia informs the couple that their application  hasn’t been successful so they are not getting a kid. Aaryan freaks out because it means he  cheated for nothing and Mia is so shocked to hear this that she just starts laughing. Virginia  ignores all of Aaryan’s yelling and simply leaves.

The couple then has lunch in complete silence. The  rest of the day Mia cleans the clubhouse and finds the extra toy piece, which Virginia used to break  everything. Furious, she rushes back to her house and destroys the toy with her shovel as she has a  breakdown.

Aaryan hugs her tightly until she calms down and announces he has something to show her.  He takes her to the virtual room and surprises him with a digital baby girl. Mia holds her with  a bright smile for a while but suddenly drops her, explaining the baby smells like nothing and it  breaks the immersion.

A desperate Aaryan tries to convince her that they can go back to normal  and be happy on their own, but Mia says she can’t do this anymore and leaves. Sometime later Mia  finds Virginia living in a shoddy apartment. Virginia threatens to call the police, but Mia  refuses to leave until she learns why she and her husband failed.

After a long argument, Virginia  finally reveals nobody has passed in six years because of government orders. The assessments  are still done just to keep up morale and the assessors are promised a child of their own if  they work hard enough. Most assessors can’t handle it and quit after a week.

It’s revealed Virginia  has a dead daughter and she has a breakdown as she explains all the humiliation she’s been through to  do this job. Mia offers her sympathies and wonders if it’s true that life is returning to the Old  World. Afterward Virginia visits another couple for assessment.

However she can’t take it anymore  and uses the balcony to self-delete. At home, Aaryan comforts himself with a virtual reality  that has a fake Mia and a grown daughter. Mia goes to the border and after receiving a hazmat suit,  she gets to travel to the Old World.

The weather is terrible but she still removes her mask, ready  to reconnect with a natural way of doing things.