Selected at birth and legally adopted by a television studio following an unwanted pregnancy, Truman Burbank is the unsuspecting star of The Truman Show, a reality television program filmed 24/7 through approximately five thousand hidden cameras and broadcast worldwide. Christof, the show's creator and executive producer, seeks to capture Truman's authentic emotions and give audiences a relatable everyman.
Truman's hometown, Seahaven Island, is set inside an enormous soundstage. The immense and elaborate set allows Christof to control almost every aspect of Truman's life, including the weather. Truman's world is populated by actors and crew members who serve both as Truman's community and carefully keep him from discovering the truth. They also earn revenue for the show by cleverly-disguised product placement. To prevent Truman from escaping his fictional world, Christof has placed Truman's town on an island and has orchestrated scenarios to instill thalassophobia (a fear of the sea) such as the "death" of his father in a boating disaster. The rest of the cast steadily reinforces Truman's anxieties by messages about the dangers of traveling and the virtues of staying home.
Truman is intended by the producers to fall in love with and marry fellow student Meryl, but during his college years he develops feelings for Sylvia, an extra. Sylvia sympathizes with Truman's surreal plight and tries to tell him his life is a fiction, but she is fired from the show and forcibly removed from the set before she can convince him. Truman marries Meryl as "written," but his marriage is stilted and passionless, and he secretly continues to imagine a life with Sylvia, and dreams of traveling to Fiji, where he has been told she moved. Meanwhile, in the real world, Sylvia joins "Free Truman", an activist group that wants to liberate the unwitting TV star from what they think is a show-business prison.
As the show approaches its 30th anniversary, Truman begins to notice unusual occurrences: a stage light which serves as a star in the night sky falls from its position and nearly hits him; an isolated patch of rain falls only on him; he accidentally overhears the crew's radio transmissions precisely describing his movements through town; and finally the reappearance of his supposedly drowned father (who is rushed away by crew members before Truman can confront him). Truman suspects that the city somehow revolves around him, and he begins openly questioning his life and asking his closest confidants (all actors) to help him solve the mystery.
Truman's suspicions culminate in a spontaneous attempt to escape the island, but he is caught and returned home under a flimsy pretext. There he confronts Meryl and challenges the sincerity of the marriages. Panicking, Meryl tries to change the subject by performing a product placement. In the ensuing confrontation, Meryl breaks character and is removed from the show shortly afterward.
Hoping to bring Truman back to a controllable state, Christof properly reintroduces his father to the show under the guise of him having developed amnesia after the boating accident. The show regains its ratings, and Truman seems to return to his routines. But one night, Christof discovers that Truman has begun sleeping in his basement. Disturbed by this change in behavior, Christof sends Truman's best friend Marlon to visit and discovers that Truman has secretly disappeared through a makeshift tunnel in the basement. Christof temporarily suspends the broadcast for the first time in its history, leading to record viewing numbers.
Christof orders a citywide search for Truman and is soon forced to break the production's day-night cycle to optimize the search. Truman is found sailing away from Seahaven, having apparently conquered his fear of water. Christof resumes the transmission and creates a violent storm in an attempt to capsize Truman's boat. Truman nearly drowns, but his spirit remains unbroken, and he continues to sail until his boat strikes the wall of the dome.
Initially horrified, Truman looks around and finds a staircase leading to an exit door. As he contemplates leaving, Christof speaks to him directly in God-like fashion from the "sky," tells him the truth about the show, and encourages him to stay - claiming that there is no more truth in the real world than Truman's artificial one. After a moment of reflection, Truman utters his catchphrase: "In case I don't see you... good afternoon, good evening, and good night", bows to the audience, and exits. Surprisingly, viewers around the world celebrate Truman's escape, and Sylvia races to greet him. The show's executive producers end the program with a shot of the open exit door, leaving Christof devastated.
After the broadcast ends, Truman’s viewers calmly look for something else to watch.
