In the grip of his addictions, Patrick Melrose must fly to New York to collect his father’s ashes. Over a weekend, Patrick’s search for satisfaction, haunted by old acquaintances and insistent inner voices, sends him into a spiral.

At the Melrose family house in France, a young Patrick encounters the volatile lives of adults with fear. They are expecting guests for the weekend and the shocking events that precede the guests’ arrival tear Patrick's world in two.

Patrick reluctantly agrees to go to his first big social event since recovering. Together with his friend Johnny, he attends a party in the English countryside hosted by former hippie Bridget, as well as a number of Patrick's old flames.

Patrick is spending the summer at his old family home with his wife Mary and their young sons. When Eleanor, now sober, announces her plan to leave the house to a New Age foundation instead of Patrick, he quickly falls off the wagon.

Patrick confronts the past on the day of his mother's memorial service. Now truly clean and sober, he attempts to solve the puzzle of his mother’s complicity in his father’s abuse.