All the Lonely People

Hubert Bird, an elderly Jamaican widower living in Bromley, London, leads a lonely life. He spends his days waiting for his weekly phone call from his daughter, Rose, who is a professor in Australia. When his new neighbor, a young single mother, Ashleigh, and her daughter, Layla, try to introduce themselves, Hubert is curt, rushing back inside to answer Rose’s call. During their conversation, Hubert fabricates a busy social life, consulting a notepad to keep track of his lies about three fictional friends: Dotty, Dennis, and Harvey. In reality, Hubert is isolated and has no friends.

The narrative flashes back to June 1957 in Jamaica. Hubert’s best friend, Gus, announces he is moving to England for better opportunities. Inspired, Hubert saves money and, with his mother Lillian’s blessing, makes the same journey in January 1958. He arrives in London to find Gus has become thin, tired, and less confident. After a miserable job as a laborer, Hubert gets work as a warehouseman at Hamilton’s, a large department store.

In the present, Hubert takes his cat, Puss, to the vet, where he again encounters and avoids Ashleigh, who is applying for a job there. His lonely routine is shattered when Rose calls with news that she is taking a sabbatical and will be visiting for six weeks in four months. She is excited to finally meet Dotty, Dennis, and Harvey, sending Hubert into a panic as he tries to invent excuses for their inevitable absence.

In a flashback to March 1958, Hubert faces escalating racist bullying from his colleagues at Hamilton’s, led by a man named Vince. The harassment culminates in Vince’s friends putting dog feces in Hubert’s dinner flask. Hubert confronts Vince, and the ensuing fight is broken up by the foreman, Mr. Coulthard, who fires Vince. A kind young woman from the haberdashery department, Joyce Pierce, tends to Hubert’s injuries.

In the present, Hubert devises a plan to find real friends to present to Rose. He tries to contact his old friend Gus, but the phone number is disconnected. He travels to Gus’s flat in Brixton and finds it in a state of extreme squalor, leading him to believe a hoarder has moved in. He then discovers that his other old friends from the Red Lion pub have either died, moved away, or are in care homes, leaving him utterly alone.

Back in April 1958, Hubert develops a crush on Joyce. He gets his hair chemically straightened and nervously asks her on a date, which she appears to reject. A week and a half later, Joyce seeks him out and asks him to the cinema. On their first date, they face racist stares but connect deeply while walking along the Thames. Their secret relationship blossoms, and Hubert introduces Joyce to Gus and his new girlfriend, Lois, at the Princess Club in Brixton. The evening is marred when Joyce spots a cab driver who is a friend of her racist father, forcing them to confront the dangers of their relationship.

Desperate in the present, Hubert tries to visit a club called O-60 but loses his nerve. He returns home to find Ashleigh on his doorstep in tears. Her babysitter canceled, and she has a job interview. Hubert reluctantly agrees to watch Layla. He takes the little girl to the park, where he reminisces about his late wife, Joyce. When Ashleigh returns, ecstatic about her interview, Hubert invites her and Layla inside. They spend the afternoon talking, and Ashleigh shares her story of escaping a cheating boyfriend to make a new life. When she leaves, she gives Hubert a hug, and this simple act of human contact after years of isolation makes him realize the depth of his loneliness.

In August 1958, Joyce reveals she is pregnant. Her father throws her out, and Hubert immediately proposes. They marry in a small ceremony attended only by Gus and Lois. By 1964, they have two children, Rose and David, and buy their first house in Bromley, where they receive a racist note on their first day.

In the present, Hubert decides to be more open to friendship. He and a new acquaintance, Jan, visit the O-60 Club together. Meanwhile, inspired by their conversations about loneliness, Ashleigh creates a flyer for a community campaign to combat loneliness. Hubert agrees to help, and at the first small meeting, he is elected president. The campaign’s first publicity event culminates in a personal crisis when Hubert has a public outburst, revealing one of the local homeless men is his estranged son, David. Despite this, the campaign gains media attention, and Hubert becomes its reluctant public face.

Flashbacks reveal more family history. In 1981, on the day of Rose’s graduation and engagement, David is hospitalized for solvent abuse, beginning a long battle with addiction. In 1996, Joyce is diagnosed with early-onset dementia. She passes away in 2005. In 2012, Hubert finds David homeless and takes him home, but David leaves after learning of his mother’s death. The flashback sequence ends with Hubert receiving a late-night phone call from the Australian police.

In the present, Hubert’s house is burgled, and Joyce’s wedding and engagement rings are stolen. When a supportive Ashleigh insists on calling Rose, Hubert breaks down and confesses the truth. The phone call five years ago was to inform him that Rose had been killed in a car accident. The weekly calls were a delusion, a coping mechanism for his grief and loneliness that led to the invention of his fictional friends. Ashamed, Hubert quits the campaign and retreats into total isolation, ignoring all contact attempts from his new friends.

Weeks later, Ashleigh tracks down Gus, who has also become a recluse after an injury. Inspired by Hubert’s past friendship, Gus travels to Bromley and convinces Hubert not to give up on life. Gus moves in with Hubert, who then reconciles with Ashleigh and Jan, telling them the full truth.

On the day of the campaign’s launch party, Hubert decides to attend. When Ashleigh gives an emotional speech about him, the crowd spots him and brings him onstage. He gives a powerful, impromptu speech about his life, his losses, and the importance of friendship. Afterward, he is approached by Melody Chen, the great-niece of his late wife, who apologizes on behalf of their estranged family for their past racism and invites him to reconnect. Deeply moved, Hubert finds Jan and tells her he wants to be with her. They kiss, and Hubert embraces the future, feeling a sense of peace.

Eighteen months later, the committee gathers for afternoon tea at the Ritz. Ashleigh gives a toast, revealing that Hubert passed away two months prior. The tea is his final gift to them, a thank-you for their friendship. They raise a glass to his memory and the lasting, positive impact of the campaign he inspired.