In the first episode, we meet the Man (Berkeley), an anonymous, morally ambiguous agent who habitually occupies the booth at the end in a classic 1950s-style diner in an unnamed city (a fictional version of Los Angeles). In each episode, a character enters the diner, and after giving a passphrase, they beg the Man to grant them a wish, typically something of a life-changing or redemptive character. The Man consults a large book, in which he occasionally makes notes, and which evidently provides both the nature of his clients's tasks, and the progress they make towards its completion, after which their wish will be granted.