Spoiler Warning: This synopsis reveals key elements of the plot.

The Great Days chronicles the life of August Russ, a young man being groomed for leadership in a cult compound in the Arizona desert. Papa is the charismatic founder of “The Movement,” and August, his favorite pupil, is ready to play an important role in the utopian days ahead. In the meantime, there is trouble to contend with. The compound is plagued by a swarm of beetles and hounded by FBI helicopters. Papa suffers from a mysterious aphasia while preparations are being made for his ritual marriage to a ten-year-old girl. Rumors of physical abuse upset the initiates. Then two events shake August to his core: Papa violates him sexually, and the woman August loves is tortured.

August flees into the desert, but his troubles aren’t over. Taught to hate and fear everything about the outside world, August is pursued by malevolent visions. After the desert nearly kills him, August finds himself in a hostile urban environment, sleeping under bridges and trying to avoid the police. By begging, August manages to save up enough money to rent a motel room, hoping that a shower and a good night’s rest will help clear his head. But it is in that room that his visions and fears catch up with him. August has been taught that anyone leaving the compound will quickly go mad, and all night long he grapples with demons for his sanity.

The next morning brings with it the knowledge that he must return to the desert to resolve the mysteries of the events he witnessed. Back at the compound, he discovers that Papa’s aphasia has gotten worse, and August, despite himself, rises to power in lieu of the increasingly ill founder. Disturbed by his own authority, August struggles to redeem The Movement and understand himself. But the roots of corruption are deep, and August runs into resistance even from those he is trying to help. During his struggle to free the minds of those at the compound, August sees them through famine and illness only to be defeated finally by those who oppose his leadership.

Through these punishing trials, August slowly regains the key to his own discernment, and when he leaves for the last time, his future is open and free. His journey, which fails to bring him peace, nevertheless makes him whole.