Based on The Making of a Modern Exorcist, journalist Matt Baglio's non-fiction account of 21st Century Vatican exorcism training, The Rite follows a young, tragically disillusioned seminary student named Michael Kovak (Colin O'Donoghue, The Tudors) who travels to Rome, despite his waning faith, to attend an exorcism school at the behest of his counselor, Father Matthew (Toby Jones, Frost/Nixon).