In the year 2024, all of Europe is united by a vast web of underground subway systems, populated by an army of downtrodden drones. Roger (Vincent Gallo) is one such cog, but flouts the modern rail convenience in favor of biking through the incessant rain. His work is menial, his relationship is flatlining, and the lone distraction in his gray life is a fixation on a shampoo spokeswoman from one of his world's ubiquitous advertisements. One day Roger begins hearing voices. He also chances upon his shampoo model, the alluring Nina (Juliette Lewis), who seems to promise answers to the voices' origins. As Roger follows Nina deeper into the underworld, he finds himself unearthing an Orwellian conspiracy of shocking magnitude.

Metropia is a visually arresting sci-fi noir, featuring a signature brand of surreal animation created by director Tarik Saleh specifically for this film. The desaturated palette and uncanny photorealism are an apt representation of Saleh's dystopian futurescape, one which is not shiny and new, but retrofitted and utilitarian, and where heroes are not courageous daredevils, but maybe just insecure paper-pushers looking for the meaning in it all.