Someday, Maybe

Eve Ezenwa-Morrow, a British-Nigerian woman, reveals in the prologue that her husband, Quentin, killed himself on New Year's Eve. He appeared perfectly happy, left no suicide note, and Eve found his body. While he was dying, she was chipping ice from the freezer and leaving angry voicemails about his failure to communicate his whereabouts, a detail that fuels crushing guilt in the weeks ahead.

In the aftermath, Eve retreats to her bed, refusing to eat, speak, or move. Her father, Dr. Nathaniel Ezenwa, a neurosurgeon, prescribes sedatives. Her mother, Nkechi (Ma), a consultant endocrinologist, fills the house with food Eve will not touch. Her older sister, Gloria, a corporate lawyer, sends her young children, Ellie and Ben, to hold Eve's hands and coax her upright. Eve's younger brother, Nate, stations himself at her bedside. Eve becomes dependent on sleeping pills, and her guilt is relentless: She cannot fathom how she missed the signs of Quentin's suffering.

Aspen Bowes-Morrow, Quentin's wealthy, imperious mother, arrives at Eve's house in the middle of the night demanding to know if Quentin left a note. Eve tells her there was none. Aspen blames Eve for her son's death. Aspen's hostility is not new: Flashbacks reveal she was subtly racist and condescending from their first meeting, once comparing Eve's outfit to staff uniforms. During a visit to Aspen's estate, Aspen introduced a blonde "family friend," Madeline Brook, clearly the type of woman she wished Quentin would marry. Quentin confronted his mother but never fully shielded Eve from the hostility.

Flashbacks also reveal Eve's backstory. She grew up the daughter of Igbo immigrants (the Igbo are one of Nigeria's largest ethnic groups) in London, attending an elite academy where she was one of 10 Black students. She met Quentin at 19 when he approached her in a supermarket, saying he had seen her debate and wanted to photograph her. He was white, with blue eyes and a nervous sincerity that drew her in. He was the only son of the Bowes-Morrow family, one of the wealthiest in Britain, but he was cagey about his privileged upbringing. By week 12, he proposed. They married the day after Eve's graduation in a Nigerian ceremony. Eve's family had reservations, but Quentin embraced Igbo customs and won them over.

Eve's best friend, Bee (Belinda Contois), a sharp-tongued art director at Circle, the lifestyle magazine where Eve also works, flies in from Buenos Aires. Bee urges professional help, which Eve refuses, and bluntly tells Eve that preserving the house as a shrine to Quentin will not help. Eve lashes out with a cruel remark about Bee's romantic past, straining their friendship.

Eve identifies Quentin's body at the morgue, pressing her fingers against the glass and whispering for him to wake up. She threads his wedding ring onto a necklace and wears it against her heart. She plans the funeral alone, commissioning a casket shaped like a Viking longboat to honor a conversation they once had on the Isle of Man. At the service, Eve cannot finish her eulogy. Aspen leaves before Eve is upright.

Driven by a need to escape the house, Eve returns to work at Circle, and Nate, who has lost his own job, secures a position there through Bee. Eve's behavior unravels: She takes sedatives at her desk and posts inappropriate blog content, including a piece recommending a cocktail of pills for the grieving. She is given a severance package and let go.

Gloria handles the legal fallout. Quentin's parents set up a trust fund for him, and with his death, the enormous sum passes to Eve. She does not want it, but Gloria insists she sign the papers. Aspen's lawyers escalate their threats.

About six weeks after Quentin's death, Eve falls off a bicycle and is taken to the hospital, where doctors discover she is pregnant. Eve feels ambivalent, having spent weeks drinking, taking sedatives, and barely eating. She and Quentin had discussed children only in the abstract.

Jackson, Quentin's best friend, accidentally reveals the pregnancy to Aspen, who calls to declare she will not be kept from her grandchild. When Eve's family gently suggests that Quentin was not perfect, Eve screams at them and flees London.

Eve checks into Room 111 at the Sefton hotel on the Isle of Man, where she and Quentin once celebrated his birthday. She is roughly 11 weeks pregnant, unemployed, and alone. Henrietta, a hotel maid, becomes an unlikely caretaker. Eve attends a posthumous photography retreat showcasing Quentin's work, where attendees conclude he was spiraling before his death. When a young attendee wonders whether Quentin's wife knew he was depressed, Eve stands and identifies herself, shouting that none of them truly knew him. On the beach afterward, she feels a new emotion: anger at Quentin for expressing his anguish through photographs rather than words.

The retreat organizer sends Eve a photograph Quentin took of her, titled She, depicting Eve's foot hanging off their bed in sunlight. It becomes a talisman. Bee flies to the Isle of Man to bring Eve home.

Back in London, Gloria is barely speaking to Eve. Ma and Dad now advocate for professional counseling. Eve's grandmother, Chinyere, calls from Nigeria and says ozugo, meaning "enough," sharing how she endured her own husband's death. Eve agrees to attend group therapy but panics and bolts after one session, ducking into a life drawing class instead.

In the class, Eve meets Luisa, a sharp-tongued doctoral student in clinical psychology who feeds her homemade snacks, and Drew, a divorced father whose five-year-old daughter, Zoe, charms Eve. These friendships, unmarred by connection to Quentin, offer something new.

Aspen's lawyer, Henry Huntington, demands the return of personal property, including a diamond ring. Eve discovers her engagement ring was originally Aspen's, a fact Quentin never disclosed. Stung, Eve returns the ring. Gloria withholds Ellie and Ben until Eve commits to getting better and, in a pivotal confrontation, tells Eve she has been fighting her battles since childhood. The baby needs Eve to step up.

On Quentin's birthday, Ma is waiting at the house. Eve confides in her for the first time about her rage, guilt, and fear. They cook bitter leaf soup together, and Ma shares tender memories of Quentin.

Eve falls down the community center steps, begins bleeding, and is rushed to the hospital. The baby's heartbeat is confirmed. When Nate discovers Eve has been attending life drawing rather than therapy, he is upset but accepts it.

Aspen sues for Quentin's ashes, claiming they should be interred in the family plot. Eve goes to Quentin's photography studio for the first time since his death and, with Jackson's help, searches for a suicide note but finds nothing. In the darkroom, she discovers candid photographs Quentin took of her on her last birthday. Luisa suggests the photos may have been his goodbye.

Eve confronts Aspen at the studio. Aspen calls the baby her "second chance" and blames Eve for taking Quentin away. Eve tells Aspen that blame will not bring him back, that they both missed the signs, and that Aspen will never take her child. Aspen leaves the engagement ring on the table before departing in tears. Eve threads it onto her necklace beside Quentin's wedding ring. Gloria is waiting outside, slips her arm through Eve's, and they go home together.

In the epilogue, Eve has given birth to a daughter, Quinn (middle name Adanne, Igbo for "her mother's daughter"), who has Quentin's eyes. Eve travels to the Isle of Man with Nate, Bee (now in a relationship with Luisa), Gloria, Gloria's husband Alex, the children, Jackson, and Drew. Aspen declines to attend but sends an engraved Tiffany rattle and expresses willingness to meet Quinn. Eve scatters Quentin's ashes into the wind, recites a Washington Irving quote about the sacredness of tears, and takes their daughter home.