Premise
The Leftovers starts three years after a global event called the "Sudden Departure", the inexplicable, simultaneous disappearance of 140 million people, 2% of the world's population, on October 14, 2011.[23] Following that event, mainstream religions declined, and a number of cults emerged, most notably the Guilty Remnant, a group of white-clothed, chain-smoking nihilists, and a cult led by Holy Wayne, a man who views himself as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.[24]
The first season revolves around the Garvey family and their acquaintances in a fictionalized version of the town of Mapleton, New York. Kevin Garvey Jr. is the chief of police. His wife, Laurie, has joined the Guilty Remnant. Their son, Tommy, has left home to become a follower of Holy Wayne, and their daughter, Jill, is acting out.[2] Meanwhile, grieving widow Nora Durst and her brother, Reverend Matt Jamison, struggle to deal with their respective traumas while adjusting to life post-Departure. It also follows Meg Abbott, a woman who is slowly seduced by the Mapleton faction of the Guilty Remnant, led by Patti Levin. These characters' lives intertwine and collide as they find themselves in the middle of an ongoing conflict between the Guilty Remnant and the townspeople of Mapleton.
In the second season, the location shifts from Mapleton to the fictional town of Jarden, Texas, where not a single citizen was lost in the Sudden Departure. The Murphy family becomes a key focal point of the season. The patriarch, John, is the chief firefighter of the town, also acting as a vigilante deterrent of people exploiting Jarden's "miracle". His wife, Erika, is a doctor. Their son, Michael, is an aspiring pastor and their daughter, Evie, is a high school student with epilepsy. The Garvey family, Nora, and Matt move to Jarden at a time which coincides with an incident that leads to the disappearance of three young girls, followed by mass panic and chaos that threatens the town's safety and forces the Garvey and Murphy families to confront their inner demons.
The third and final season unfolds three years later, in 2018, starting 14 days before the seventh anniversary of the Sudden Departure. The setting of the third season moves between Jarden and Victoria, Australia, as most of the lead characters—particularly the Garvey and Murphy families—undergo emotional journeys that make them reflect upon their lives, their beliefs, and the events they have encountered in the previous two seasons. Kevin's father, the mentally ill former chief of police of Mapleton, is also a main focus in the final season as he embarks on a spiritual journey to fulfill a cryptic purpose, and eventually crosses paths with the other members of the Murphy and Garvey families.
