Two neuroscientists—Poppy and Ylona—create a technology that can potentially address deteriorating memories in dementia. They need help in developing an effective method to retrieve memories and find Mica, a psych grad student. Working together on the breakthrough procedure reawakens ghouls of the past. Mica discovers a string that ties their pasts, revealing what Poppy intends to use the technology for. Part psychological drama, part soft science fiction, Her Last Cigarette Yesterday is a meditative revenge plot that imagines the future of our memories in the backdrop of the cruelty that surrounds us and the grief that lingers within us.