Plot: On his birthday, Walter Sparrow, an amiable dog-catcher, takes a call that leaves him dog bit and late to pick up his wife. She's browsed in a bookstore, finding a blood-red-covered novel, a murder mystery with numerology that loops constantly around the number 23. The story captivates Walter: he dreams it, he notices aspects of his life that can be rendered by "23," he searches for the author, he stays in the hotel (in room 23) where events in the novel took place, and he begins to believe it was no novel. His wife and son try to help him, sometimes in sympathy, sometimes to protect him. Slowly, with danger to himself and to his family, he closes in on the truth.
Alternative Plot: A man's (Jim Carrey) discovery of an obscure book about the number 23 leads him on a descent into darkness. As he becomes more obsessed with its contents, he becomes more convinced that it is, in fact, based on his life. To his horror, he discovers grave consequences in store for the book's main character.
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