A social satire set at an exclusive Hawaiian resort, "The White Lotus" follows the vacations of various hotel guests over the span of a week as they relax and rejuvenate in paradise. But with each passing day, a darker complexity emerges in these picture-perfect travelers, the hotel’s cheerful employees, and the idyllic locale itself.

Among the employees at The White Lotus are the fastidious resort manager Armond (Murray Bartlett), who, after a sudden trauma, begins a dramatic downward spiral - and the down-to-earth spa manager, Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) who gets taken on an emotional roller coaster ride by a needy guest. The vacationers include the Mossbacher family – Nicole (Connie Britton), a successful type-A exec, who can't help but treat her family like disobedient employees; her husband, Mark (Steve Zahn), dealing with both an embarrassing health crisis and a terminal inferiority complex; their teenaged son, Quinn (Fred Hechinger), a socially awkward gamer, experiencing the wonder of nature for the very first time; their daughter, Olivia (Sydney Sweeney), and her friend, Paula (Brittany O’Grady), sharp-tongued college sophomores who cast a sardonic eye on the lifestyles and belief systems of everyone around them.

The handsome, entitled Shane Patton (Jake Lacy) is here with his beautiful bride, Rachel (Alexandra Daddario). Shane and Rachel are in the throes of young love, but as they get to know each other better in this new, intimate environment, clouds of doubt appear – and by the time Shane's intrusive mother, Kitty (Molly Shannon) surprises them with an unwelcome visit, their fairytale honeymoon has begun to unravel. And finally, there is Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge), a wealthy, unstable woman, recovering from the death of her mother, traveling alone to the hotel, looking for love and in desperate need of a massage.