Priest

Tyler grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. He moved from the big city to the tiny, quaint Missouri town of Weston, where he’s the priest at St. Margaret’s Catholic Church. The church needs more light, different carpeting, and real wood, and a recent fundraiser will help them renovate. The stiff and confined confessional booth also needs a transformation.

Rowan Murphy, a math teacher, is Tyler’s only constant penitent. He confesses to envy and lust, and for penance, Tyler tells him to think about the direction of his life. With Rowan’s confession over for the day, Tyler looks forward to leaving early and enjoying the warm weather, but a new penitent enters the booth.

The woman, Poppy Danforth (though Tyler doesn’t know her name yet), is uncomfortable. She’s never confessed before. Her idea of reconciliation comes from movies. When she is distraught at her unnamed “sins,” Tyler reassures her that every human is a sinner. Poppy calls his generic comfort “horseshit.” Yet Tyler doesn’t assure her that everything will be fine. He advises her to find what she loves and keep it close. Poppy cries, and Tyler catches a glimpse of her. He wants to touch her, but she leaves.

Tyler is a busy person. He leads Mass every day and multiple times on Sunday. He also leads the men’s Bible study and helps out with the youth group. Additionally, Tyler enjoys poring over the Reddit page for the zombie TV show The Walking Dead. Before he became a priest, he also liked “fucking.” After the men’s Bible study, Tyler, feeling guilty about his sexual feelings toward Poppy, says an extra rosary.

One week later, Poppy returns to confession. She found a picture of Tyler on the church’s website. She thought that seeing Tyler would help her confess, but it didn’t. Tyler must remind himself that he can’t ask her name, see what she looks like, or instruct her to reveal only her “carnal sins.”

Chapter 2 starts with Poppy’s confession. She wants a robust sexual life and self-respect. Poppy used to have a “sinful” job, though she didn’t feel like it was a sin. Poppy comes from a wealthy, prestigious family. She grew up in Newport, Rhode Island, and she lived in Kansas City before moving to Weston. Wherever she’s been, she feels like she has a “slice” of herself that doesn’t match her identity. The mysterious job let her “demon” manifest.

After Poppy’s confession, Tyler leaves the booth to better explain the reconciliation process to her. Poppy captivates him, and he has vivid sexual desires for her. Later, he has a sexual dream about her.

While on his morning run through hilly Weston, Tyler scolds himself, reminding himself of his Catholic obligations. He listens to early Britney Spears and bumps into Poppy, who’s running in a sports bra and “very short” shorts. Poppy makes fun of his running music, and Tyler’s graphic sexual thoughts return. Poppy wants to begin a new “phase” in her life. Gently, Tyler tells her that religion isn’t for everyone. Before jogging away, Poppy jokes that Tyler’s “crazy hot” looks make her want to join the church.

To counter his erection, Tyler takes a cold shower. He commits himself to self-denial, as he doesn’t want Poppy to upend his sacred vows. During another morning run, Poppy and Tyler collide. Tyler wants to help Poppy with her spirituality, but he also admits to himself that he needs another cold shower.

Tyler has a mother and father; one older brother, Sean; and two younger brothers, Aidan and Ryan (Ryan is a teen). They live in Kansas City, and Tyler visits them on his day off. He plays video games and thinks about his older sister, Lizzy, who died by suicide. Sean tells Tyler about an inclusive, invitation-only adult entertainment venue, and he mocks Tyler’s celibacy. While driving home, Tyler connects the adult entertainment venue to Poppy’s confession.

In his office, Tyler has a poster of St. Augustine of Hippo—the canonized theologian and philosopher from Christian antiquity. St. Augustine looks at Tyler while he fantasizes about Poppy in her running shorts and sports bra.

During office hours, Poppy arrives in high-waisted shorts and bright red lipstick. She reveals her backstory. Her affluent, East Coast parents viewed her as another “asset.” She earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Dartmouth, though she could’ve been less practical and studied dance at Juilliard. She also spent three summers volunteering in Haiti, where she helped provide prenatal care. Poppy didn’t want the opulent life her parents scripted, so after graduating from Dartmouth, she abruptly left. She hasn’t directly spoken with her parents in three years.

Tyler reveals why Lizzy died by suicide when she was 19. The parish priest molested her, and she detailed the abuse and listed the names of other victims in her suicide note. The priest went to jail, but the families and church officials were upset with Tyler’s family for causing a scandal. Aside from Tyler, out of all the members in his family, only his mother still believes in God.

Poppy confesses that she worked at an adult entertainment venue in Kansas City, where she made a lot of money. She appreciated the dancing aspect and enjoyed being desired for reasons other than her social status. Tyler imagines himself as one of the men at the adult entertainment venue. After Poppy leaves, Tyler masturbates. He doesn’t regret yielding to his desires.

At the coffee shop across the street from the church, Tyler runs into Poppy. They discuss the church’s efforts to raise money, and Poppy teases Tyler about his ignorance concerning bookkeeping software.

Poppy just bought a bungalow that’s on the same block as the church. Once the adult entertainment venue owner realized that she had an MBA, he hired her as a financial and marketing advisor. The new role pays well and lets her work remotely from Weston. Tyler walks her home. Once he’s alone, he takes another cold shower.

On Monday, Poppy makes another confession. Her ex-romantic partner, Sterling Haverford III, once came to the club. He gave her her first kiss and first orgasm, but he married a different woman. At the club, he admitted that he didn’t care about his wife. He would have preferred to marry Poppy but felt that he couldn’t do so because she did not fit his narrow, classist image of a potential wife. He claimed that Poppy’s sexual energy was palpable to a degree that would embarrass him socially if he were to marry her, and he asked her to be his “mistress” instead.