The Elephants takes place in London, in the near future. Daniel works as an archivist in a hospital. One afternoon he gets to know Christina, the daughter of one of his colleagues. When he meets her she is lying in the pool in the indoor swimming pool trying to learn not to breathe. And these are the rules in the universe Daniel and Christina inhabit: none of what is happening is real. To Daniel, everything seems to be about reaching beyond his own self, about finally being united with the world.