Plot
In 2081, the United States Constitution has been amended to require that all Americans are fully equal and must have the same level of intelligence, appearance, and physical ability. Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, and her agents enforce the equality laws by forcing citizens to wear "handicaps" like ugly masks for those who are too beautiful, earpiece radios for the intelligent that broadcast irritating noises meant to disrupt thoughts, and heavy weights for the strong or athletic.
George and Hazel Bergeron have a 14-year-old son named Harrison. He takes after his father, who is highly intelligent and physically strong. The government removes Harrison from his home. His parents are barely aware of that due to Hazel's low intelligence and George's mandated handicaps.
George and Hazel watch a ballet on TV one day. Some dancers are weighed down to counteract their gracefulness and masked to hide their attractiveness. George's thoughts are continually interrupted by the different noises emitted by his handicap radio. Hazel urges George to lie down and rest his "handicap bag" (a 47-pound (21 kg) cloth bag filled with birdshot and locked around his neck). She suggests taking a few of the lead balls out of the bag, but George resists because it is against the law and he will have to endure two years of prison and pay a $2,000 fine for every lead ball he takes out.
On TV, a reporter with a speech impediment (like every other announcer) struggles to read a bulletin and hands it to the ballerina wearing the most ugliest mask and heaviest weights. She begins reading in her natural, beautiful voice before switching and changing to a more unpleasant one, as it would be unfair for her to use such a beautiful voice. Harrison's escape from prison is announced, and a full-body photograph of him is shown upright after several tries to face it upright by the showrunners. He is seven feet (2.1 m) tall and burdened by three hundred pounds (140 kg) of handicaps.
George recognizes his son for a moment, before having the thought eliminated by his radio. Harrison storms the TV studio in an attempt to overthrow the government. He declares himself emperor and rips off both of his own handicaps and it is the ballerina who previously read the news bulletin, who is then elected to be his empress when given the option. Harrison then orders the musicians in the studio to play their best music while the two of them dance.
Suddenly, the Handicapper General bursts into the studio and kills Harrison and the empress on the spot with two shotgun blasts while they are in the middle of a long kiss. She threatens the musicians at gunpoint to put on their handicaps again before the TV goes dark. George, who left to get a beer, returns. He asks Hazel why she is crying, to which she replies that something sad happened on television that she cannot remember.
