The Book of Luke

Luke Griffin is a 34-year-old stay-at-home father married to US Senator Barnes Appleby. On an ordinary Wednesday in 2015, Luke is running errands with their children, six-year-old Andie and four-year-old Wallace, when strangers at the grocery store begin snapping photos and offering unsolicited sympathy. His sister Jenny calls to tell him that video evidence of Barnes's affairs with five former male staffers is on every news channel. Luke rushes home through a crush of news vans and protestors and demands a divorce.

The narrative flashes back to 2003. Luke, then 22, is a former Dartmouth football player from Charlotte, North Carolina. His mother drowned when he was six, and his father, Mitch, raised Luke and Jenny alone. Luke came out as gay at 14, and Mitch channeled him into football for social protection. A TV segment spotlighted Luke as an openly gay college linebacker, but a drunk-driving accident a month later ended his career and left deep scars across his face and torso, a secret Mitch helped him cover up. At Mitch's urging, Luke joins the cast of Endeavor, a new reality competition show filming in Grand Cayman. At the airport, he meets Arjun Bhaduri, a charismatic British-Indian reality star, and Imogen Cuthbert, a guarded Black Navy veteran. The three form an instant bond and dominate the competitions, while Luke and Arjun begin a secret romance.

Returning to 2015, Luke hires attorney Evelyn Harris. Barnes's lawyer threatens that since Barnes is the biological father and Jenny served as the egg donor, Luke, who has no employment history, could be deemed a "glorified babysitter." Luke resolves to fight for full custody. When Troy Harvey, one of Endeavor's showrunners, offers him $250,000 to return for Season 20 plus per-episode fees and a shot at a $5 million prize, Luke agrees, seeing it as the only way to secure his children's future.

A flashback reveals how Luke's bonds with Arjun and Imogen shattered after Season 1. At the Reunion taping, Arjun's parents dismissed Luke, and Arjun coldly told him their relationship was just a fling. Mitch was soon diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and Luke returned for Season 2 to pay medical bills. There, grieving and lonely, he slept with Barnes on the first night. Barnes orchestrated a scheme to expose Imogen's divided loyalty, and Luke, feeling betrayed, publicly turned against her and had her eliminated.

Luke arrives in Italy for Season 20, themed "Angels vs. Devils." He is placed on Team Devil, a designation designed to exploit his reputation as the silent spouse of a senator who built his career on anti-trans rhetoric. Imogen is also on the cast, now hostile toward him. During the first Tribulation, the show's team challenge round, Luke helps Imogen remove a snake from her jersey, and she slaps him across the face. That night, Balthazar Orgullo, an LGBTQ activist, pours margarita mix over Luke and screams that Arjun died by suicide because Luke outed him. Another contestant reveals that Erika Bhaduri, a young trans woman in the cast, is Arjun's younger sister.

Luke sends word through Imogen that he will leave if Erika wants him gone. Erika's reply comes via a note: "She says you stay." Luke wins his first Trial, the show's head-to-head elimination round, defeating Balthazar. He forms alliances with PB (Paul-Bryan O'Connell), a cunning former stockbroker, and Melange Mason, a sharp-tongued Texan. He also grows close to Shawn, a kind former adult film actor. Late one night, Luke and Erika bond over a jigsaw puzzle. Erika tells Luke she does not blame him for her brother's death and says she swore she would not hide the way Arjun had, which is why she came out as trans.

As the competition moves to China, Luke and Imogen tentatively repair their partnership. In Shanghai, Luke and Shawn grow closer, eventually sleeping together on a night when the hotel cameras have reportedly been removed. Luke discovers that PB has been blackmailing other contestants. During a Tribulation on a skyscraper, Luke has a panic attack when a crew member on a balcony triggers memories of Arjun's death: Arjun fell from a London hotel balcony in 2007.

The game shifts to New Zealand, where Barnes arrives as a surprise contestant after resigning from the Senate over a new scandal. Leaked footage of Luke and Shawn's night in Shanghai goes viral. Greta Hendricksen, a reality star and Barnes's longtime ally, reveals on camera that Barnes and Shawn had sex at a party before the season, a fact Shawn had concealed. Luke tells Shawn he means nothing to him. Away from cameras, Luke and Barnes have a vicious argument that devolves into a sexual encounter Luke immediately regrets.

Luke allies with PB to eliminate Barnes. After Shawn discovers that Greta sabotaged his career by planting pornographic photos on her ex-fiancé's phone, he confronts her and punches Barnes, who responds with a degrading slur. Shawn is removed from the show and gives an emotional farewell, asking Luke to remember the person Shawn became after meeting him. When PB discovers that Luke concealed news of their friend Vanessa's hospitalization, he calls Luke "the worst person I've ever met" and departs.

Luke confesses the full truth on camera to Erika. A flashback to Season 3 in Alaska reveals that Barnes planted Luke as a double agent while secretly rekindling a physical affair with Arjun. On the final night, Arjun confessed he loved Luke and begged him to leave Barnes. Luke panicked and publicly outed Arjun as gay in front of the cast and cameras. Luke then threw the finale so Barnes could win. Two years later, Arjun stepped off a hotel balcony in London. Erika calls Luke a "fucking coward" but demands he compete in the Season 20 finale so she can beat him fairly.

Melange discovers that Troy and Barnes have been conspiring all season, engineering the casting of Shawn, leaking the sex tape, and manipulating footage. Using Greta's stolen journal documenting Troy's blackmail and PB's missing tape recorder, Luke and his allies confront Troy. Barnes turns on Troy, producing a video proving Troy had sex with Shawn without Shawn's knowledge. Zara, the other showrunner, fires Troy.

The finale is a grueling gauntlet across New Zealand's wilderness. Luke and Imogen work as a team through ice puzzles, glacier excavation, and rope bridges. On the final rope bridge, the structure begins to collapse. Barnes unclips his harness and jumps to reduce the weight. Luke then unclips himself, sending a final message to his children through the camera before falling.

Luke and Barnes undergo emergency surgery. The five finalists each receive a $6 million settlement. They divorce but agree to joint custody, and Luke moves to Pasadena near Imogen and Erika. Barnes launches Alone Together, a show documenting his rehabilitation and public advocacy for trans rights alongside Erika, while Luke controls any footage involving the children. At the live Reunion, the finale reveals that when Luke fell, Erika and Imogen tumbled across the finish line, making them the surprise co-winners. Imogen announces her retirement, and Erika becomes the show's first trans champion. PB, attending with Jiamin, his ex-fiancée, reconciles with Luke. Arjun's mother returns Luke's old copy of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, in which Arjun marked a passage and wrote "THIS." Zara tells Luke that PB can secure the Endeavor hosting job only if Luke returns to compete, and that without his leverage, Melange and Erika will lose their spots on the show. Melange gives Luke Shawn's new phone number. The novel ends on a Monday morning as Luke drives to meet Shawn, now enrolled in a speech pathology program, at a café above Los Angeles. Luke rises from a bench as he senses Shawn approaching.