The New Sincerity follows Rose Spencer, a staff writer for a prominent New York literary journal. Her editor, the smart and attractively cynical Benjamin, is definitely flirting with her—while also respecting her writing. With the rise of an Occupy-style political movement in a public park right outside the journal’s offices, Rose sees a way to participate in what may be the defining activist movement for her generation, but too quickly she must learn to recognize the difference between sincere action and self-promotion.