“When it reminds you how beautiful the world can be?”

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a sleepwalker. In his dreams, a rabbit named Frank announces the apocalypse to him in exactly 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. When he returns home, Donnie finds that the engine of an airplane has crashed on the roof of his house, right in his room!

Frank continues to haunt her nights and gives her orders, such as flooding her school. A blessing in disguise since it will allow Donnie to get closer to Gretchen Ross (Jena Malone), a new student with whom he fell in love.

Donnie is a rebel. He rebels against the naivety of his friends when they talk about the Smurfs. He also gets angry with his gym teacher Kitty Farmer (Beth Grant) or lecturer Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze) and their binary view of life.