Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Elliot Alderson works for Allsafe, protecting companies he despises while secretly hacking people in his private life. He exposes a coffee shop owner's child pornography operation to the police, but his attempts to connect with other people remain strained. He attends therapy with Krista, uses morphine to manage his loneliness and investigates the man she is dating. When a cyberattack threatens Allsafe's largest client, E Corp, Angela calls Elliot into work. He travels to the affected server with Gideon and finds malicious code carrying a message asking him to leave it there. He keeps the file and restricts access to himself.
A stranger calling himself Mr. Robot takes Elliot to an abandoned Coney Island arcade and introduces fsociety. The hackers attacked E Corp, and keeping their file was a test. Mr. Robot wants Elliot to frame executive Terry Colby and help erase the company's debt records. Elliot initially prepares evidence against the hackers, but Colby's treatment of Angela helps change his decision. He gives the FBI the altered evidence instead. Away from work, he confronts Krista's deceptive boyfriend and takes his mistreated dog. Colby's eventual arrest confirms that Elliot's evidence has worked. As Elliot watches the news, suited men escort him to a meeting with E Corp executive Tyrell Wellick.