Selfless 2008

Billionaire New Yorker Damian Hale is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the story follows his desperate bid for more time. When a chance encounter leads him to Professor Albright, he learns about a radical procedure called shedding—a process that transfers a consciousness into a fresh, younger body. Trusting Albright, Damian opts to undergo the procedure and meticulously stages his own public death, enabling a seamless start in a new life.

Under the alias Edward Kidner, Damian begins anew in New Orleans. He quickly befriends his neighbor, a man named Anton, who becomes a looming presence in his fragile new reality. As Damian settles, he forgets to take his prescribed medication, and the mind wrestles with vivid hallucinations—visions of a woman and a child that feel perilously real. When he questions Albright about these visions, the scientist minimizes them, yet unintentionally reveals unsettling details that Damian never disclosed.

A planned vacation to Hawaii offers Damian a respite, but the lingering memories drive him to pursue a landmark he spotted in his visions. This leads him to a farmhouse outside of St. Louis, where he encounters a woman named Madeline who reacts to him as if he were her missing husband, Mark. Playing along, Damian-as-Mark is drawn into a difficult truth: Mark may have entered into a deal with Albright to secure funds for his daughter Anna’s life-saving treatment. The moment turns dangerous as Albright’s henchmen arrive, and Damian’s quick actions result in Anton’s death and the destruction of their accomplices’ plan. He and Madeline flee to gather Anna from a school.

From a motel, Damian uses a laptop to dig deeper into the mystery of shedding. He discovers that a key pioneer, Dr. Francis Jensen, is now deceased, and Domenic-like clues point toward the possibility that Jensen’s consciousness ended up in Albright. A video reveals a familiar tic shared by Jensen, strengthening Damian’s suspicion that Albright is Jensen in disguise. He tracks down Jensen’s wife, Phyllis, who now suffers from Alzheimer’s, leaving her with only faint memories.

Damian lures Jensen—revealed to be Albright—to a nursing home, where he discloses a shocking truth: the pills are designed to erase the original personalities of the bodies used in shedding. Without the pills, Damian’s own consciousness would die, allowing Mark’s persona to re-emerge. Jensen’s henchmen force a confrontation, and Anton returns in a new body to threaten Damian, though Damian eventually defeats them and confiscates more pills, hoping to protect Madeline and Anna.

Madeline’s unwavering courage becomes a turning point as she wounds the attackers, and Damian’s resolve deepens. Together with Madeline and Anna, he seeks help from his old friend, Martin O’Neill, to ensure their escape to the Caribbean. Martin reluctantly acknowledges the truth about shedding, and his reaction crystalizes the moral shock of what they are facing. Damian turns the focus to safeguarding Madeline and Anna, distracting Jensen’s men long enough for Martin to orchestrate their passage to safety.

In a critical confrontation, Damian destroys Jensen’s operation by cutting off his control and using a cunning ruse to mimic Anton, thereby rescuing Madeline and Anna. Although Jensen claims Damian needs him to survive, Martin reverses the pills’ effects, gifting Damian a way to counter Jensen’s hold. With a controlled blaze, Damian ends Jensen’s regime for good, and Madeline and Anna complete their escape to the Caribbean.

The next act centers on family reconciliation. Damian visits his estranged daughter, Claire, offering a letter that reconciles the distance between them without exposing the truth about his current form. The voyage to the Caribbean marks a final shift: Damian renounces the idea of longer life under shedding, allowing the real Mark to slowly re-emerge. A closing video message from Damian to Mark captures gratitude for the time given, and the story concludes with Mark reuniting with his family at last, leaving Damian’s struggle as a quiet testament to what was sacrificed and what was gained.