Before the opening credits, a frustrated Dominic Cummings is shown at a future fictional public inquiry trying to explain that they have no understanding of the way in which technology is going to reshape politics, and therefore society, in the United Kingdom. After the opening credits, Cummings rejects an offer in 2015 by UKIP MP Douglas Carswell and political strategist Matthew Elliott (political strategist) to lead the Vote Leave campaign due to his contempt for "Westminister politics", but accepts when Carswell promises Cummings full control. The next sequences show Cummings outlining the core strategy on a whiteboard of narrow disciplined messaging delivered via algorithmic database-driven micro-targeting tools. Cummings rejects an approach by Nigel Farage and Arron Banks of Leave.EU to merge their campaigns, as his data shows Farage is an obstacle to winning an overall majority. Cummings' database-driven approach causes friction with Vote Leave MPs and donors, such as John Mills (businessman), who expect to conduct a traditional campaign using posters and phone-calls/leaflets delivered by local MPs. Mills, who chairs the Vote Leave campaign, tries to have Cummings fired to merge with Leave.EU, however, he instead finds himself getting fired.