HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL

The film opens as a documentary crew is filming at the Wander to Greater Paths Baptist Church. Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown) and his wife, First Lady Trinitie (Regina Hall), ran the megachurch with tons of followers and raked in a substantial amount of money. However, a recent scandal involving Lee-Curtis and several young men has forced the Childs to close their church after severe backlash and a mass exodus of congregants. They hope to reopen their church by Easter Sunday.

While Lee-Curtis and Trinitie try to show that they are decent people, the documentary captures them indulging in expenses and showing off things like their wardrobe full of designer brands and a big fountain in the church. Most people have turned on them, but they still have a small gathering of supporters, including five congregants who have stuck around for Lee-Curtis’s sermons.

Another pastoral couple, Keon and Shakura Sumpter (Conphidance and Nicole Beharie), are planning to open their own church, Heaven’s Home, on Easter Sunday as well. They cite the Childs as their inspiration, but they have also gathered many of their former congregants to attend the Sumpters’ sermons.

Lee-Curtis and Trinitie gather for a Wednesday sermon with their “devout five” – Deacon and Deaconess Culpepper (Robert Yatta and Greta Marable Glenn), Kensington Straterly (Perris Drew), and Sapphire and Aria DeVaughn (Crystal Alicia Garrett and Selah Kimbro Jones). They believe Lee-Curtis is not guilty of the allegations and are more than happy to abide by his words. During a baptism practice, Lee-Curtis and Trinitie argue over the pronunciation of “amen”. After the service, they drive by Heaven’s Home and worry about how they might run their church out of business. They go home and attempt to get intimate, but Lee-Curtis only gets going when Trinitie performs oral sex on him.

Trinitie goes out to get her hair done and buy a new bonnet, but she becomes unwell when she spots one of the young men involved in the allegations against Lee-Curtis. On her way out, she runs into another former congregant, Sister Denetta (Olivia D. Dawson), who makes subtly condescending remarks and lets Trinitie know she will be joining Heaven’s Home along with other former congregants.

Lee-Curtis is later seen playing basketball with a young hopeful athlete. After the game, Lee-Curtis appears to be coming onto him until the young man says he has a boyfriend.

Lee-Curtis and Trinitie later go visit the Sumpters in an attempt to get them to move their opening date away from Easter. While they try to be friendly with one another, the Sumpters are adamant in sticking to that date. Lee-Curtis makes plans to try and bring the Sumpters down, so they plan to reopen Greater Paths within the next few days.

Lee-Curtis has Trinitie wave a sign in the street to advertise their return, telling her to “shake it for the Lord” to get more people to honk and acknowledge them. While standing outside, Trinitie is harassed by a woman holding her baby, who yells obscenities at her and criticizes her and Lee-Curtis for their actions and trying to bounce back from the scandal.

Trinitie talks to her mother Sabina (Avis Barnes) about her current problems, but Sabina only encourages her to continue sticking by Lee-Curtis’s side. They go back out into the streets for more advertising, but with less attention than before. Lee-Curtis then has Trinitie paint her face so she can do “worship miming”, a thing that he likes to do but Trinitie hates. A car then stops in the middle of the street and holds up traffic. The passenger is a young man named Khalil (Austin Crute), who was one of the young men involved with Lee-Curtis. He steps out of the car to vocally condemn Lee-Curtis and his attempts to undo what he did.

Trinitie storms back to the church and airs her grievances over her marriage and how their congregants have all turned on them thanks to the scandal. The documentary director, Anita Bonet (Andrea Laing) finally speaks after being a “fly on the wall” and suggests to Trinitie that she leave, to which Trinitie fires back at her for speaking up after all this time with that statement.

As the re-opening day arrives, Lee-Curtis and Trinitie stand outside waiting for people to show up. Lee-Curtis makes a comment about Trinitie’s bonnet, to which she tells him to finally shut up about what she wears. A Mustang drives up to the front but only does donuts in the lot, with Lee-Curtis believing this person is there for them. Back at Heaven’s Home, the Sumpters say that they felt bad for the Childs and decided to move their opening to that very same day. As a result, they have a hugely successful turnout. Lee-Curtis only continues to believe that people are going to show up for him, while Trinitie stares stonefaced at the camera.