Plot

Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) is the star of one of the most popular shows in TV history. The only thing is-he doesn't know he's the star.

Selected at birth and legally adopted by a television studio following an unwanted pregnancy, Truman Burbank is the unsuspecting star of The Truman Show, a reality television program filmed and broadcast worldwide, 24/7, through approximately five thousand hidden cameras.

An entire other world has been fabricated for him in a special enclosure in Hollywood, to simulate a small town called Sea Haven. Truman's entire world is a huge TV set & all he knows are simply actors, including his wife. Truman's world is populated by actors and crew members who serve as his community while carefully keeping him from discovering the truth. They also earn revenue for the show through cleverly disguised product placement.

Truman's hometown, Seahaven Island, is set inside an enormous soundstage, which allows Christof, the show's creator and executive producer, to control most aspects of Truman's life, including the weather.

To prevent Truman from escaping, Christof has orchestrated various scenarios, such as the "death" of Truman's father in a boating accident to instill Thalassophobia, and has the cast reinforce Truman's anxieties with messages about the dangers of traveling and the virtues of staying home. The island set is surrounded by water to ensure Truman can't escape.

Though the producers intend for Truman to fall in love with and marry a woman named Meryl, Truman develops feelings for Lauren, an extra. Sympathetic to Truman's plight, she tries to tell him the truth but is fired and forcibly removed from the set before she can convince him. Truman eventually marries Meryl, but their relationship is stilted and passionless, and he secretly continues to imagine a life with Sylvia and dreams of traveling to Fiji, where he was told she had moved. Meanwhile, in the real world, Sylvia joins "Free Truman", an activist group that calls for Truman's liberation.

It is on day 10,909 that the trouble begins. As he's getting ready for work, a strange object falls from the sky near Truman's car. It appears to be a light of some kind.

His wife Meryl (Laura Linney) & friend Marlon (Noah Emmerich) also play a role in keeping Truman on the island despite his ambitions to roaming the world. Meryl indicates Truman's financial obligations like the mortgage & car payments to scuttle his dreams.

Next day, Truman sees a homeless man that looks like his dad (Brian Delate) (who supposedly died). Suddenly a lot of obstacles appear & whisk the homeless guy away. That night in basement Truman dreams of a woman he had his eye on in college, who was strangely sidelined from his life as Meryl turned up. Deducing that the city somehow revolves around him, Truman begins questioning his life and asking who he sees as his closest confidants to help him solve the mystery.

A month later Truman meets that girl from high school named Lauren (Natascha McElhone) & she reluctantly agrees to speak with him. Before she can reveal the truth about the show she is whisked away by strangers. Lauren reveals her real name is Sylvia.

The next day as Truman wanders around in his car, he notices even more strange things including a studio set inside an elevator. Truman picks up Marlon & decides to leave the island. The next day, Truman attempts to leave Seahaven, but finds that there are no flights available to Fiji for at least a month, and the bus he attempts to take to Chicago breaks down before it can even leave.

Truman decides to leave by car, but a perfectly synchronized traffic jam appears. When he 'pretends' to give up and go home, the traffic jam magically disappears, and he heads to the town's only bridge out of town. His fear of water makes him force Maryl to drive over the bridge, but a "nuclear" power plant leak stops him & he is returned to his home. There, he confronts Meryl and challenges the sincerity of their marriage. A panicked Meryl tries to change the subject with a product placement, causing Truman to snap and hold her at knife-point. Meryl breaks character to call for help and is removed from the show.

Everyone tries to tell Truman that there is no controversy. His mother (Holland Taylor) comes & explains that the homeless guy was indeed his father under the guise of him having developed amnesia after the boating accident. It soon becomes apparent that this reuniting was due to Christof (Ed Harris) the creator of the 'Truman Show,' who felt that reintroducing Truman's Father would quell his emotional turmoil. The show regains its ratings, and Truman seems to return to his routines. At the office, Truman is introduced to Vivien (Heidi Schanz) (Christof's planned replacement since Meryl as now left the cast).

Christof goes on a talk show & explains that the death of Truman's father was a way to stop Truman urge to explore the world. Sylvia confronts him on air & Christof says that Truman is free to leave anytime & that he stays because he likes it there.

One night, however, Christof discovers that Truman has begun sleeping in his basement. Disturbed by this change in behavior, Christof sends Truman's best friend Marlon to visit and discovers that Truman has disappeared through a makeshift tunnel in the basement. Christof suspends the broadcast for the first time in its history, leading to record viewing numbers. Mid night turns to noon as the "Sun" is brought up to assist with the search.

Christof finds Truman sailing a boat to escape the island. Christof uses the weather program to stop Truman, & almost drowns him but shuts it off when Truman does not relent.

Truman continues on, until he hits the side of the stage. Finding a ledge, he walks along it to a small stairwell with an exit door. As he attempts to go through, a loud booming voice is heard overhead. Christof speaks to Truman, acting as both a God and a Father to him, and revealing that Truman's entire life was a television show. Christof tries to plant doubt in Truman's mind, that he belongs in this world, and that he is afraid to leave.

Truman then grows silent, before turning to the sky, and proclaiming, "In case I don't see Ya-good afternoon, good evening, and good night." Then, bowing, he steps through the door, and into a new life. Viewers around the world celebrate Truman's escape, and Sylvia races to greet him. The executive producers end the program with a shot of the open exit door, leaving Christof devastated. After the broadcast ends, Truman's viewers look for something else to watch.