The following version of this book was used to create the guide: McCarthy, Cormac. The Passenger. Penguin Random House LLC., 2022.

Cormac McCarthy's novel The Passenger is primarily set in Pass Christian, Mississippi in the 1980s. The third person narrative traces the protagonist Bobby Western's ongoing inability to heal from his sister Alicia's suicide. The novel spans multiple years and toys with conventional notions of plot structure and linguistic form. The following summary relies upon a more streamlined mode of explanation.

Ten years prior to the narrative present, Bobby Western's younger sister Alicia committed suicide. When she was alive, Alicia lived with schizophrenia. She and Bobby had a close relationship, defined by an inexplicable bond with and attachment to one another. Despite their kinship, Alicia was unable to maintain mental stability. She checked herself into the Stella Maris mental hospital several times. While there, she formed relationships with individuals including Helen and Jeffrey. Like her connection with her brother, however, these friendships could not ultimately save Alicia.

Alicia ended up checking herself out of Stella Maris and creating a life for herself on her own. While living by herself, however, Alicia stopped taking her medications. The hallucinations that had begun appearing to her when she was 12, at the start of menses, resurfaced with new ardor. Chief among these hallucinations was a man with flippers called the Kid. Whenever the Kid surfaced, he and Alicia would engage one another in lengthy philosophic and esoteric conversations. Ultimately, Alicia ended up wandering off into the woods and committing suicide. A hunter discovered her body on Christmas day.

A decade later, Bobby was living in Pass Christian, Mississippi. Although his sister had died years prior, Bobby was unable to recover. All of his closest friends knew that he was still suffering, but Bobby refused to discuss the matter with them.

In Pass Christian, Bobby lived in an apartment by himself with his cat. During the days, he worked as a salvage diver for a company called Taylor's. One day, the company sent Bobby and his friend and coworker Oiler on a new job. They were investigating a downed plane in the bay. Bobby was overwhelmed by the site. The plane was almost entirely intact. There were nine dead passengers on board.

Because of the suspicious nature of the downed plane, Taylor's decided not to further involve itself with the case. Over the following days, however, a series of inexplicable events occurred. Suited men began appearing at Bobby's apartment and interrogating him about the plane. Their questions suggested that they thought Bobby had stolen something from the site or knew something about the plane's allegedly missing tenth passenger. Although Bobby denied knowing anything about the incident, his apartment was later ransacked and he became convinced he was being followed and watched.

Over the course of the following months, Bobby became increasingly paranoid. While working a solo job on an oil rig in Pensacola, Florida, he kept hearing what sounded like human noises on board. He was unsure who was after him and why.

Not long after returning to Pass Christian, Bobby traveled to Wartburg, Tennessee to see his grandmother, Granellen. Granellen was happy to see Bobby, but immediately recognized how poorly he was doing. She urged him to stop torturing himself over Alicia's death.

Bobby hired a private investigator to help him understand why he was under government investigation. He was unsure if it had to do with the downed plane, with his unreported inheritance money years prior, or with his late father's involvement in the creation of the atomic bomb. The investigator, Kline, took an interest in Bobby's case. The more they met, the closer they became. Eventually, Bobby started confiding in Kline, particularly about his father and his sister.

Bobby eventually decided to live in the margins of society. The reclusive months he spent traveling from place to place ushered him towards healing and reconciliation. He realized that confronting and processing his grief over Alicia did not mean forgetting Alicia forever. After starting a new life for himself, Bobby discovered a freeing sense of internal peace.