Less arrives at a New York hotel with a borrowed cosmonaut's helmet, preparing to interview famous sci-fi author Mandern.

Less meets his agent Peter Hunt and learns his publisher has rejected his fourth novel.

Famous sci-fi author Mandern is struck by food poisoning during his literary event, and Less conducts the interview essentially alone.

Less travels to Mexico for a literary festival dedicated to celebrated poet Robert Brownburn's work.

Less and Arturo visit the ancient pre-Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan, climbing two enormous pyramids with a history professor.

Less wins an Italian literary prize at the Turin ceremony, surprising himself after assuming he had no chance.

Less meets a young man named Bastian on his first night in Berlin and begins a relationship with him.

Less reads from his novel at the Berlin Spy Club nightclub while Freddy's wedding takes place simultaneously.

Less uses a Paris flight layover to attend a dinner party where he meets a married Spaniard named Javier.

Javier kisses Less at the end of the dinner party before Less leaves for the airport to fly to Morocco.

Guests on Zohra's Saharan birthday camel trek fall ill one by one until only Less and Zohra remain.

Less steps on a sewing needle during a power cut at the Indian retreat and is rushed to hospital.

Carlos takes Less to a private island and declares that Less has the best life of anyone Carlos knows.

Less learns Robert has suffered a stroke and calls him via video chat from his Japanese hotel.

Less returns home to San Francisco after his round-the-world journey and finds Freddy waiting on his porch.

Arthur Less escapes San Francisco to avoid his ex-boyfriend Freddy's wedding by embarking on a globe-spanning literary tour. After a bumbling interview in New York and a cancelled panel in Mexico, he unexpectedly wins an Italian prize he was certain he had no chance of taking. He finds brief romance in Berlin, attends a stolen dinner party in Paris, and watches his companions fall ill one by one on a Moroccan desert birthday trek. In India, a freak accident lands him in hospital before his old rival Carlos takes him to a private island and tells him he has led a charmed life. A video call with the ailing Robert and a return to San Francisco finally bring Less face to face with Freddy, waiting at his door.

The core journey of Arthur Less around the world.

Less hastily assembles a round-the-world literary itinerary, accepting every available invitation to ensure he misses Freddy's wedding.

Less searches New York for an interview prop and borrows a Russian cosmonaut's helmet from a gay bar.

Arturo leads Less and Van Dervander through a Mexico City market where they sample increasingly spicy street food.

Less accidentally sets off the fire alarm in his German apartment while attempting to steam his shirts.

Less climbs the exterior of the dormitory building to sneak back inside after spending the night at Bastian's apartment.

Hans, Less's German teaching assistant, faints during class as a mysterious illness spreads through the group.

Bastian gives Less a pill at the Spy Club and they dance wildly together until dawn.

Lewis reveals to Less during the Moroccan desert trip that he is divorcing his husband of twenty years.

A sandstorm traps Less, Lewis, and Zohra in the desert encampment, forcing them to spend a day drinking and playing cards.

Carlos arrives at the Indian hospital and takes Less to his fully-staffed but unopened luxury hotel to recover.

Less is taken on a boat trip off the Indian coast where he sees dolphins and flying fish.

Less successfully works on his novel at the quiet empty Indian hotel, revising his protagonist into a sympathetic fool.

A package arrives at Less's Japanese hotel containing the tailored suit he ordered from the Italian tailor.

Less gets locked inside a private dining room at his final Japanese restaurant and begins to cry.

Less laughs and pushes his hands through the paper wall of the Japanese dining room to escape.

From the moment Less accepts every available literary invitation to avoid Freddy's wedding, his trip is defined by comic misadventure and unexpected encounters. He borrows a cosmonaut's helmet in a New York gay bar, eats spicy street food in a Mexico City market, and triggers a fire alarm while trying to steam his shirts in Berlin. He climbs the exterior of a dormitory wall, watches his students faint, and dances all night on a pill at a spy-themed nightclub. In Morocco he learns his friend Lewis is divorcing, a sandstorm pins down the party, and in India he rewrites his novel in an empty luxury hotel before getting locked in a Japanese dining room and breaking through its paper wall.

The mishaps and side adventures of Less's grand tour.

Less recalls first meeting Carlos in 1987 and, years later, being introduced to Carlos's adopted son Freddy at a party.

Less recalls meeting Robert Brownburn and his wife Marian on a beach in 1987, just before his affair with Robert began.

Less accidentally tells prize finalist Fosters Lancett that Lancett has already won the Italian literary award.

Less unexpectedly blurts out that the young men at a Berlin dinner table know nothing about death, in perfect German.

Bastian's friends nickname Less 'Peter Pan' because of his childlike German and his dormitory wall-climbing escapades.

Less wakes on his final morning in Germany and realizes that Freddy must now be married.

Finley Dwyer tells Less at the Paris dinner party that Less is a bad gay whose books go unreviewed by gay critics.

Mohammed drives Less and Zohra to a Swiss alpine resort hidden in the Atlas Mountains for Less's 50th birthday.

Less realizes Zohra is a lesbian as they discuss failed relationships and the fear of growing old together.

Less stands on a hotel balcony in Morocco and decides his novel's protagonist should be a fool, not a tragic hero.

Lewis reveals to Less that Freddy locked himself in the bathroom the night before his wedding ceremony.

Less recalls Robert unexpectedly ending their years-long relationship in a single brief phone call.

Robert tells Less during their video call that his fears about aging and finding love again are not a problem.

Freddy wakes up on his honeymoon in Tahiti and realizes he has married the wrong man.

The narrator reveals himself as Freddy and declares that the story of Arthur Less is also his own.

Beneath the comedy of Less's travels lies a series of quiet revelations that reshape how he understands himself. Memories of meeting Robert and later Freddy form the emotional spine of his journey, while the discovery that he is considered a bad gay by the literary community forces him to question an identity he has always taken for granted. His 50th birthday in Morocco brings an unexpected mirror in Zohra and a balcony epiphany that convinces him to rewrite his novel — and himself — as a fool rather than a tragic hero. A final conversation with the stricken Robert dissolves Less's deepest fears about aging and love, while Freddy's honeymoon breakdown and the narrator's self-revelation make clear that this is never just one man's story.