Warning: Major spoilers ahead

With the help of student guide Eric, Greg Russo arrives at Ludlow College ready to appear for an ‘In Conversation’ special appearance. As they rush through the quad, he gets distracted by a shirtless, soaking wet man running in shorts.

Dr Shepherd is quick to meet him outside Cabot Hall – and quickly introduces herself as Dylan. Greg admits he’s nervous as they pass a sign promoting his appearance as a best-selling author who has written over 30 novels. Dylan is the Professor of Poetry at the school, and Greg dismisses his work as “beach reads” rather than something in-depth, but she assures him she’ll be fine – the poetry class she teaches is centred on Bad Bunny.

At the seminar, Greg reads a passage from one of his Rooster novels, before the floor is opened for questions. One girl, Ronni, immediately raises her arm and asks why he hates women, with him often comparing the women in his books, particularly character Margot, to food. He insists he doesn’t hate women or see Margot as a sex object. In fact, Margot – who he calls brave and smart – is based on his ex-wife, and he was in love with her. The men in the class quickly prove her point by noting she fights drug smugglers topless in one scene, which Greg insists she did as she ‘needed to use her bikini top as a tourniquet’.

Shortly after class, Dylan takes Greg to meet President Walter Mann – the man he saw running shirtless before. Walter praises his talk, though Greg is worried he embarrassed Ronni in class. Walter dismisses him, saying they don’t teach the kids anything anymore. Instead, he bemoans how ‘liberal art colleges used to be for free thinkers’ and is annoyed that ‘they’ve become the bad guys’ and ‘populism isn’t very popular’, something Greg is hesitant to align himself to.

Walter shares that Dylan hasn’t read any of the Rooster books, which she tries to defend, but Greg plays it down by saying he hasn’t read her poetry either, so they’re even. Walter notes he had claimed he had in their email correspondence and even said he loved it. Greg, embarrassed, admits he had, but he didn’t want her to feel bad. As Walter walks away, Dylan promises to read Greg’s books, and thanks him for coming.

In the minute it takes Greg to follow Walter into his office, Walter has stripped down to his underwear. Walter brags about using hot saunas and cold plunges to stay toned, while Greg pretends to understand what he’s talking about. Walter offers him a gig at the college as a writer in residence, but Greg politely declines. He’s more concerned about his daughter, Katie, and how she’s doing, but Walter remains tight-lipped, so he goes to see her

Katie is an art history professor at the college, and Greg catches her right at the end of a class. She jokingly tells her students they’ll get an extension on the paper if they meaningfully tell Greg that they look him in the eye and tell them they love him. One student obliges.

Going for a stroll, she thanks him for being there but tells Greg she doesn’t need to be checked in on. Katie believes he only agreed to the lecture to see her, noting he had been asked several times before but only agreed to it now. She has recently separated from Archie, her husband and a professor of Russian Studies at the university, after he left her for a post-grad student. Talking about the split, Katie said her marriage felt normal before she was blindsided and forced to move out. Given the public nature of the split, she knows everyone on campus is aware and feels like everyone is staring at her wherever she goes. Before Greg can offer much support she pushes him into a bush.

Katie joins Greg to hide when she spots Archie and his new girlfriend, Sunny, having lunch together on a bench in the quad. When they kiss, Greg tries to distract Katie from seeing it, but it doesn’t work. She sadly storms off, leaving Greg alone in the bush, where he’s spotted by two girls kissing who think he’s perving on them.

At a convenience store, one of the kids in the lecture room – Tommy – runs into Greg and thanks him for his talk. Flattered, Greg buys beer for Tommy when he claims to have forgotten his wallet. As Greg hands him the beer outside, a police officer spots them, and calls him out for buying alcohol for an underage kid. Greg wasn’t aware Tommy was under the age of 21, but Tommy does nothing to save him, with the exchange getting more and more awkward as Greg sarcastically implies that he’s trading the beer for sexual favours.

Tommy finally folds and admits he tricked Greg into buying it and quickly leaves. The officer confiscates the beers from Greg and tells him to ‘stay away from alleys’.

While walking her dog, Katie passes the home she shared with Archie, and curiosity gets the better of her. She climbs a tree to spy on Archie and Sunny, but her location is given away by Greg calling on her phone, which sets her dog off barking. Archie notices Katie, who awkwardly tells him that the dog refuses to poop anywhere but the front garden.

Grabbing a drink at the hotel bar, Greg runs into Dylan, and they get talking. She shares she’s pulled strings to get her friend in as the writer in residence, but as she’s never even done a talk before, she is worried she may be out of her depth and Walt will fire her. She admits only getting her the job because she feels isolated from the rest of the staff. Greg admits knowing a thing or two about feeling alone in a busy room – because he was married for 25 years.

Greg says Dylan would love his ex-wife, Elizabeth, but when they were married there were always so many people around. When they split, those same people all said that Elizabeth was out of his league. He tries to change the subject, but admits that for “too long” he believed them.

After a very tipsy evening, Greg walks Dylan home. He shares his desire to confront Archie about what happened with Katie, and she encourages him to. Once they arrive at her door, she invites him inside, which surprises and flatters him, but he politely turns her down. Trying to ease Dylan’s embarrassment, he suggests they talk some more, but when she asks him if he’d like to come in for a drink, he turns her down again – successfully rejecting her twice in the space of two minutes. Now so embarrassed and eager to get away from him, she smashes her front door window after struggling with her keys.

The next morning, Archie sees Sunny off as she heads to the dentist, while infantilising her slightly. He’s then surprised by the arrival of Greg. While he’s not pleased to see him, he politely invites him in for a cup of tea. Greg makes a point to not use the coasters on his coffee table. Greg has come with a speech, but messes up immediately by referencing Chekov, rather than Archie’s preferred scholar Tolstoy. (Archie’s pride and joy is a first edition copy of War and Peace, which sits on display in his living room).

Greg instead plainly asks why Archie cheated on Katie, and tells him to man up, because Katie is humiliated. Archie admits he “got lost” but still very much loves Katie. At the time he cheated, they were not getting along, and he withdrew from her. He’s willing to take “the lion’s share” of the blame and wants to get her back, but he’s worried he’s really messed things up. Greg says while he would never take him back, Katie might, if he puts the work in.

Katie is less than happy when she discovers her dad’s interference, but shares Archie has already reached out to her to ‘find a path back’. Greg asks if she still loves her estranged husband, and she’s annoyed that she does. He shares that, while he split from her mother Elizabeth because she cheated on him, his biggest regret is not fighting for her. She agrees to go and see him, and he warns her to try and be kind, because while he deserves to have horrible things said to him, sometimes things are said you can’t take back. Greg and Katie spend the night hanging out and bonding.

The next morning, Greg joins Walter for a sauna in his back garden, but immediately hates it. Walter says he’s happy that Archie and Katie are on the right path because he didn’t want to fire Katie, but the awkwardness would have meant one of them would have to leave. As Archie has tenure and the Wallace Fellowship, he has more standing to be kept. Greg asks if Walter’s ever been married, and he shares that he is - although they have a two months together/two months apart policy because she loves to travel and he doesn’t.

At Archie’s house, Katie doesn’t give him a moment to talk as she immediately lays into him – explaining she’s still angry that he cheated and never tried to even explain himself. She admires she loves him but she’s so mad at him she could murder him. Despite it all, she thinks they can get through it.

When it’s Archie’s turn to talk, he’s stunned into silence, but eventually shares that he's just found out Sunny is pregnant. She lied about going to the dentist and saw a doctor instead. While he had planned to fight for Katie, still loves her and even had a speech planned, his hands now feel tied. She tells him to get out - even though it’s his own house.

He leaves anyway, giving her some time to herself to scream the place down in peace. She decides to retaliate for what he’s done and sets fire to his copy of War and Peace, throwing it in the fireplace and setting it alight. However, the chimney damper is closed and stuck tight... the room quickly fills with smoke and embers from the manuscript, and before long the whole room is ablaze.

When Greg spots the fire and goes to investigate, the entire home is turned to ash. The police officer on duty is none other than the one Greg encountered at the convenience store. Katie quickly tells him to be her alibi and say she was with him all morning. He does as he’s told, but she immediately folds and admits she wasn’t. The officer tells them to stay put while he finds a pen.