"Good morning, and in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!" *After 30 years of the show's success, Truman started to experience clues about the nature of his reality, such as a spotlight falling from the sky, a radio frequency that describes his movements in his car and a homeless man who resembles his late father. Truman starts to realize that the city somehow revolves around him and he becomes suspicious of this. His relationship with Meryl worsens when she tries to prevent him from finding out the truth, and it causes his skepticism to increase. Truman takes Meryl on a road trip, only to find blockades of implausible emergencies. During a talk with an actor playing a police officer, who accidentally calls Truman by his name even though they had never met, and goes to investigate the crisis. He is stopped by actors in radiation suits and he is taken home with Meryl.

Truman starts to wonder what is going on around him and he starts to realize Meryl is part of it, despite her trying to deny everything from him. When he threatens her with a knife, Meryl breaks character, shocking Truman of what she said. Marlon walks into Truman's house to find the commotion and Meryl breaks in tears before she is removed from the show for good. Hoping to break Truman back in a controlled state, Christof re-introduces Truman to his father, Kirk, under the guise of losing his memory in the boat incident. This brings Truman to his normal routine, except when he starts to move down into his basement after Meryl left.

Eventually, Truman discovers the truth of his world and decides to make an escape plan. He fools the cameras by using a dummy to hide under his bed covers and a tape recorder playing snoring sounds to make it look like he is snoozing in the basement. With the film crew, Christof and the audience fooled by this tactic, Truman escapes from the basement undetected using a manmade tunnel he dug that leads to his garden. Marlon discovers this when he is called over to Truman's house and breaks character when he says to Christof: "He's gone!", causing the crew to cut transmission for the first time in the show's history.

As a town wide search is initiated with all the actors searching for Truman, to no avail. After being forced to "cue the sun" to bring more light, Christof finds Truman sailing in a small boat, Santa Maria, having conquered his aquaphobia. With the actors having no skill to work on any boat around the area and resuming transmission, Christof creates a violent storm to try and capsize the boat, not caring if Truman dies or not, much to the horror of the crew and audience. After Truman survives, his determination causes Christof to end the storm, realizing he cannot dissuade him even further.

Truman's boat reaches the end of the dome when the boat's mass pierces through the dome's painted sky. Truman comes to the realization that he has been living inside a fake enclosed world and has been lied to the whole time. After breaking down in tears over this revelation, Truman abandons his boat and walks along a pathway to find a staircase that leads to a door marked "EXIT". He climbs up the stairs and opens the door, realizing it is a way out. Christof talks to him through a speaker system, trying to persuade him to stay, claiming there is no truth in the real world than the artificial one. After a moment of reflection, Truman disagrees, says his catchphrase, takes a bow to his audience and leaves, finally entering the real world. The worldwide audience celebrate Truman's escape before he is reunited with Sylvia. It is presumed Truman now lives with Sylvia and becomes an explorer, which he wanted as a child, while Christof became broke and lost all his fortune*