Elliot, a tech whiz, confronts Ron of Ron's Coffee about the fact that he's uncovered Ron's child pornography site. Ron begs for mercy, and accuses Elliot of only wanting blackmail money, but Elliot clarifies that that's not what he's after and the police (already tipped off by Elliot) come in and arrest Ron.

Elliot hates his day job, which he got through his childhood friend, Angela. Elliot harbors romantic feelings for Angela, which both Angela and her annoying boyfriend Ollie seem to be aware of.

Elliot has a therapist named Krista, who he feels protective of due to her earnest desire to help him with his mental issues. Elliot tracks all of his friends and acquaintances online (including Krista), hacking into their email accounts and social media profiles. Elliot is working on digging up dirt on Krista's sketchy online boyfriend, Michael Hansen.

Elliot is on meds that Krista gave him to ward off his "delusions." He also self-medicates with recreational drugs. He sleeps with his dealer, Shayla, who is obviously way more into him than he is to her.

Angela calls Elliot in the middle of the night about a security breach at Evil Corp. Elliot saves the day, stopping the breach and impressing his boss, Gideon. While stopping the breach, he notices the name "fsociety." Later, Elliot meets a mysterious man on the train, who claims to have knowledge of the hack. This man, Mr. Robot, heads fsociety (a hacker group headquartered at Coney Island) and their goal is to take down Evil Corp, erasing debt and redistributing wealth.

Elliot deliberates whether he should join fsociety in their plot. He initially wants to turn them in, but eventually decides against it when Evil Corp's executive is a jerk to Angela, embarrassing her and getting her thrown off the team. Elliot moves forward with the plot, framing that nasty exec (Colby) for the security breach.

Meanwhile, Elliot finally digs up the dirt on Krista's boyfriend, Michael Hansen, who winds up not being Michael Hansen at all, but rather a married, adulterous man. In exchange for Elliot's silence, he agrees to break up with Krista, disclosing the full truth to her, and also gives Elliot his dog, Flipper.

After three weeks of no movement on the Evil Corp plot, Colby is finally arrested and charged. Feeling victorious, Elliot is quickly intercepted by a bunch of security guys who whisk him away to Evil Corp headquarters where Tyrell Wellick, the company's Senior VP of Technology, greets him with a "Bon soir."