All the Missing Pieces

The night before their college graduation, Ridley drags her twin sister Avery to a fraternity bonfire at their small private college in the Arizona mountains. Ridley is spontaneous and free-spirited; Avery is disciplined and reserved. When Ridley goes to find Avery later that evening, her sister has vanished. On the wooded path to the parking area, Ridley discovers Avery's custom lacrosse-stick key chain smeared with blood.

Five years later, Ridley is 27 and hosts a true-crime podcast called Sounds Like Serial, living in a restored VW van with her three-legged cat, Tater, and traveling the country to investigate cold cases. She uses the last name "Sawyer" publicly, keeping her personal connection to true crime hidden. Her producer, Baker, pushes for cases that will boost ratings, but Ridley insists on traveling to Shady Cove, a small Northern California mountain town, to cover the case of Emerson Sinclair. Nearly 10 years earlier, 16-year-old Emerson was abducted from a local park after tennis practice. She escaped by freeing herself from bindings in a moving truck and jumping out, fracturing her hip and dislocating her shoulder. Ridley privately believes Emerson's case is the first in a string of linked abductions.

Ridley's first encounter with Sheriff Colter "Colt" Brooks sets the tone for their relationship: He arrives to investigate a complaint about her cat and threatens to tow her van before letting her off with a warning. That evening at The Whiskey Barrel, a bar owned by Colt's best friend Trey, Ridley begins asking about local crime. Colt arrives after Trey texts him, and the two spar verbally, mutual attraction palpable beneath the antagonism. Ridley visits Emerson's secluded house and tells her the abduction was the first in a string of 23 linked crimes. Colt arrives furious, ordering Ridley off the property and revealing that Emerson is his half-sister. His guilt runs deep: He was supposed to pick Emerson up from tennis practice that night and arrived 20 minutes late.

Back at her campsite, Ridley reviews master research files on the 23 cases she has linked. The victim profile is consistent: all blond, ages 16 to 24, star athletes, and members of the National Honor Society, a national academic achievement organization. The perpetrator's methods escalated from Emerson's bungled abduction through assaults and torture to murder. Ridley's sister Avery is listed as victim 10. She has taken this theory to multiple agencies, including the FBI, but none have acted on it.

Ridley's early interviews yield friction. Former groundskeeper Grady Smith, an original suspect in Emerson's case, grows hostile and advances on Ridley before Colt intervenes. The turning point comes when Trey reveals to Colt that Ridley's twin vanished the night before graduation. Shaken, Colt apologizes, and they share a vulnerable conversation about grief. The fragile peace shatters when someone breaks into the sheriff's station evidence room and disturbs Emerson's case files. Colt suspects Ridley, but her editor, Sully, provides timestamped proof of her alibi. Ridley slams the door in Colt's face.

Colt leaves an apology at her campsite: groceries and an unredacted copy of Emerson's case file. That evening, Ridley is attacked from behind. A man strangles her, punches her ribs, and warns her to leave town; she catches a sweet, grape-like scent before losing consciousness. At the hospital, Colt offers her a place at his cabin, and she accepts. Her van has been ransacked, her laptop and case file stolen, though the locked drawer containing her master files survives.

Under Colt's roof, Ridley reveals her full theory. He agrees to help, and they build a timeline and suspect list on butcher paper covering his windows. Over two weeks, their connection intensifies. They give in to their desire but establish ground rules to keep things uncomplicated. The bond deepens beyond the physical; swimming in the lake, Ridley reveals she forced Avery to attend the party the night she disappeared, and Colt admits he comes here to process his guilt.

Ridley spots an inconsistency in the alibi of Coach Bryan Kerr, Emerson's former tennis coach. Gas station footage shows him wearing shorts on a night that was 36 degrees. Under questioning, Kerr confesses he faked his alibi to conceal a sexual relationship with Tara Gibson, a 17-year-old student. The lead clears Kerr of the abduction but exposes his predatory behavior. Threatening messages flood Ridley's Instagram, and when Baker tries to force a crossover with his new show, Ridley quits his production company. Baker grabs her wrist and threatens her; she tases him, and he is arrested.

With Emerson's encouragement, Ridley relaunches her podcast independently, revealing Avery's disappearance and her belief that the same perpetrator is behind at least 23 crimes. The episode goes viral. That night, Colt holds Ridley through her recurring nightmare of Avery drowning in a lake while Ridley remains trapped in the shallows. In Emerson's garden days later, after holding Colt through his own breakdown over his guilt, Ridley tells him she loves him, and he confesses the feeling is mutual.

During Emerson's recorded interview, she describes the night of her abduction in harrowing detail. Colt storms out, and Ridley follows him to the garden, where he releases years of pent-up guilt. Moments later, while Ridley stands alone, someone stabs her in the side and drags her away. Colt returns to find drag marks, blood, and Ridley's phone. Emerson remembers a man named Shawn Sullivan who ran a tennis clinic for her team and always chewed grape gum, matching the scent from both Emerson's abduction and Ridley's campsite attack. Deputies trace a gray Jeep on nearby traffic cameras to an LLC in Sullivan's name.

Ridley wakes bound inside a soundproofed RV. Her captor is her own podcast editor, "Sully," transformed: Without the gray wig, prosthetic wrinkles, and padded belly, Shawn Sullivan is decades younger than the persona she trusted for four years. He first spotted Avery at a tennis clinic at Ridley's college, stalked and killed her, then infiltrated Ridley's life because her voice reminded him of Avery. He claims 34 victims, all targeted through his traveling tennis clinics, and plans to force Ridley to record a final episode before killing her. When Sullivan steps outside, Ridley uses Avery's lacrosse-stick key chain to saw through her bindings, kicks the RV door into his face, and runs.

Sullivan chases her to a cliff overlooking a lake. Law enforcement arrives, but Sullivan grabs Ridley and presses a gun under her chin. She tells Colt she loves him and invokes the nightmare, reminding him of his promise to help her beyond the shallows. She headbutts Sullivan, shoves away, and throws herself off the cliff. Colt jumps after her and pulls her from the water as officers open fire and kill Sullivan.

Ridley wakes in the hospital two days later after emergency surgery. The FBI recovers Sullivan's journals and trophies; he murdered 26 of the 34 women he targeted. Arizona State Police find remains with a necklace Ridley gave Avery, confirming her sister's body has been found. Four months later, Ridley and her parents hold a private ceremony at Colt's lake, placing Avery's ashes on the water.

One year later, Ridley and Colt marry in Emerson's garden. Emerson is growing braver, spending time with Trey. Coach Kerr is in prison for his relationship with Tara, for dealing opiates and steroids through students, and for causing the death of student Jason Kipp, a case Dean, Ridley's teenage podcast superfan, uncovered while launching his own podcast, Mayhem and Murder. As a wedding gift, Colt gives Ridley Avery's lacrosse-stick key chain, recovered from the FBI. Surrounded by the community that rallied around her, Ridley reflects that she has found all the missing pieces: a home, a family, and peace, with Avery always beside her.