The Revival 2018

Eli, a preacher in Hot Springs, Arkansas, inherits his late father’s Baptist church and walks into a slowly crumbling faith community. The once-thriving congregation has dwindled, and the church’s funds have nearly run dry. In town, Emmanuel Baptist stands as a rival beacon — a larger, louder presence with a minister known as “Brother Aaron,” whose sermons even reach listeners on the local radio. The scene is set for a collision between two visions of faith, one fading and one flourishing, as Eli tries to keep his flock together while the town watches the newer church’s momentum.

After Eli’s sermon one Sunday, a drifter named Daniel enters the scene during the church’s free pot-luck. Eli warmly introduces his pregnant wife, June, to the newcomer, but [Daniel] is wary and abruptly leaves when Eli cannot offer him a place to stay. The encounter plants a fraught tension around hospitality, belonging, and the lines between pastor, host, and seeker. The moment also foreshadows how Eli will grapple with boundaries, desire, and the pull of someone who doesn’t quite fit into the church’s orderly world.

Trevor, a friend of Eli, invites him on a hunting trip and hints at mounting pressure from within the congregation. Trevor explains that some parishioners want Eli replaced, and he has arranged a Revival backed by the Southern Baptist Board of Churches, pitched as a lively, ticketed event with food, music, and sweeping evangelical preaching. Eli, quietly anxious about the church’s future, agrees to consider the plan. The Revival becomes a crucible for Eli’s ministry, testing his integrity, his relationship with June, and his ability to inspire big crowds without losing himself.

That same night, [Daniel] returns to Eli’s orbit, drawn by hunger and a strange kinship. In Eli’s office, the two men share a meal, and the conversation turns intimate as [Daniel] notices a Marcel Proust collection on a bookshelf. The easy talk and shared literary reference create a fragile bridge between them. Eli eventually escorts [Daniel] to his father’s cabin, a hidden place Eli kept away from the city and his parish to shield his family from the chaos of his alcoholic mother years earlier. While cleaning and tending to [Daniel]’s wound, a moment of unexpected closeness unfolds, a near-kiss that stops as Eli leaves, haunted by what the moment could mean.

The next day brings a new complication: parishioner [Jimmy] visits Eli, confessing a troubling attraction to his cousin, [Missy]. Eli listens, offering little concrete guidance, and the moment underscores a church wrestling with forbidden feelings and the boundaries of faith. Meanwhile, [Daniel] starts buying ingredients to make meth, revealing a darker edge to his desperation and his dependence on the dangerous chemistry of survival in a town where opportunity is scarce. Trevor presses forward with the Revival plan, using a shared meal to frame the event and reminding Eli that the board’s involvement could be both a lifeline and a trap. Trevor, a recovering alcoholic, speaks openly about his own sobriety, adding a human layer to the high-stakes decision about how to steward his congregation.

As the night unfolds, Eli brings [Daniel] more food, and their bond deepens into a private, turbulent intimacy. Eli’s marriage to [June] becomes strained as he spends the night with [Daniel], and when he returns home, [June] is upset but seeks a form of mercy by tending to him—washing his feet as a ritual of care and penance. The next day brings new pressures: Jimmy returns to Eli with more questions about desire and boundaries, and [Daniel] is drawn further into the meth-cooking cycle. [Trevor] announces a plan to pull the congregation toward the Revival, while also wrestling with his own sobriety and the responsibilities of custody over his daughter. The cabin, the meth, and the fragile trio of Eli, [Daniel], and their secrets become a tangled knot that will test every vow Eli has made to his God, his wife, and his people.

That night, Eli’s visit to the cabin stretches late again, and he and [Daniel] have sex once more. Back in town, [June] hosts a luncheon prayer circle with the women of the congregation, a moment that contrasts with the growing personal chaos in Eli’s life. [Daniel] continues to improvise, cooking meth in the cabin, while Eli wrestles with the pull between his calling and his desires. The strain pushes Eli to seek a more flamboyant, evangelical edge in his next sermon, hoping to ignite the church’s enthusiasm and outshine Emmanuel’s popularity. The revival atmosphere tightens as [Daniel] unexpectedly shows up and publicly confesses his homosexuality in front of the parish, a moment Eli uses to offer what he presents as healing and blessing, drawing the crowd into a charged, performative moment where faith and fear collide.

After the service, Eli drives [Daniel] to the cabin and urges him to leave, but [Daniel] refuses to go. The truth of the situation becomes clear: the revival is selling out, and the town is hungry for spectacle even as it reveals painful secrets. [June] reveals she took a photo of Eli with [Daniel], and Eli acknowledges that [Daniel] will not be leaving. [June] declares she will “clean up his mess,” signaling a deepening rift and a difficult road ahead. The mood in the town shifts from quiet tension to reckless escalation as Eli sinks into drink and wanders the streets, while [Jimmy] watches [Missy] at work and [Trevor] struggles with his sobriety and his responsibilities as a father.

The crisis peaks when Eli, in a stupor, returns to the church, and [June] confronts [Daniel] with a sharp allegory, but [Daniel] remains determined to stay. Trevor arrives at the cabin and brutally assaults [Daniel], while [Jimmy] is left to watch over Missy. Eli, drawn by a mixture of guilt and fear, heads to the cabin, only to find the battered, nearly unmoving figure of [Daniel]. In a desperate, reckless act, Eli sets the cabin alight with [Daniel] inside, burning away a painful secret that had already begun to consume him. He watches the fire from his car as the town’s soundscape swells with choir music, a stark counterpoint to Trevor’s sorrowful contemplation at home and [Jimmy]’s uneasy moment with Missy.

In the aftermath, the town returns to the church, and the scene shifts to the stage where a fully packed congregation fills the space. The choir’s voices rise in a hopeful, triumphant swell as [Eli] steps forward on the church floor, the revived energy of the service pulsing through the pews. He moves toward the pulpit with the purpose of delivering the Revival sermon, entering a new phase of his ministry that promises both renewal and risk, and leaving the audience to decide how faith, doubt, power, and mercy can coexist within a single, fraught life.