Medical researchers Frank (Mark Duplass) and his fiancee, Zoe (Olivia Wilde), have developed a serum, code-named "Lazarus". It was intended to assist coma patients but is shown to actually be able to bring the dead back to life. With the assistance of their friends, Niko (Donald Glover), Clay (Evan Peters), and Eva (Sarah Bolger), they run a successful trial on a recently deceased dog. However, they notice that the dog is behaving differently than it did when it was alive: its cataracts disappear, it loses its appetite, and it demonstrates other strange abilities. Tests reveal that the serum, instead of dissipating, is constructing strange new synapses within the dog's brain. When the dean of their university learns of their underground experiments, their project is shut down. They are also informed that a major pharmaceutical corporation has bought out the company that funded their research. The company and their attorneys confiscate everything associated with the project..