Watching Them Burn From Paradise

Martha Higgins has turned the shared third-floor hallway of her condo building into a towering labyrinth of damp cardboard and broken-down boxes, hoarding it for recycling money. When a neighbor warns her that the blocked fire exit, the frayed extension cord and the missing lighter are a disaster waiting to happen, Martha weaponizes her age, and the other residents rush to her defense, branding the neighbor heartless and entitled.

Rather than keep arguing, the neighbor and her husband Connor leave for the month-long Hawaii honeymoon they had postponed for over a year. Days later, frantic messages flood the building's group chat, begging her to come back, but she silences her phone and returns to the ocean.

A formal fire code violation from building manager David only makes Martha shriek and her neighbors, Arthur and Joanne among them, turn on the management instead. The hallway stays piled high, and the warning goes unheeded.