The Girl I Was

Alexis Spencer, a woman in her thirties, works as a contract social media manager in Chicago, where she lives with her boyfriend, Andrew. On what she expects to be the day she is hired full-time, the HR director informs her that her position is being outsourced overseas. That evening, rather than getting ready for the special date Andrew has planned at Alinea, an acclaimed Chicago restaurant, Alexis changes into pajamas and drinks wine. She picks a fight, and Andrew discovers from a cardboard box and a dead plant that she lost her job. He accuses her of never taking responsibility and being too stuck in the past to envision a future. When Alexis says they should break up, Andrew produces a Tiffany blue box containing a diamond engagement ring, snaps it shut, and tells her he is leaving because loving her is no longer enough. Alexis drops to her knees begging, but he walks out.

Devastated, Alexis retreats to the closet with more wine and pulls down a box of college memorabilia from her years at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh. Flipping through photos of her reckless 18-year-old self, she bitterly blames that younger version for ruining her life. She examines a photo with three college friends: Katie, the group's caretaker; Nikki, her former roommate; and Claire, whose sole ambition was to marry a wealthy man. She finds an old bottle of cheap vodka, a gift from her friends accompanied by a note explaining that a Ukrainian woman sold them the vodka, claiming it was blessed, with the instruction to "Drink to forget. Drink to repeat." Alexis toasts her younger self, wishing she could go back and fix every mistake, and drinks until she blacks out.

Alexis wakes in a fraternity house bedroom plastered with early-2000s posters. The young men downstairs have never heard of iPhones, and a pay phone call to Andrew's number reaches a younger version of Andrew who does not know her. Through campus bulletin board flyers and a student who confirms the date as November 1, 2002, Alexis realizes she is back at UW–Oshkosh, 14 years in the past.

She heads to her old dormitory and finds Lexi, her 18-year-old self, passed out drunk. Lexi refuses to believe Alexis is her future self until Alexis recounts a humiliating secret Lexi has never told anyone. They adopt a cover story: Alexis is Lexi's older sister whose apartment burned down. Their coexistence is rocky. Lexi refuses to change, while Alexis insists Lexi's partying and lack of ambition ruined their future. They strike a deal: Each will try the other's approach. Lexi devises time-travel experiments inspired by movies, including visiting a hot spring in Minnesota, using a Ouija board, and sitting in a phone booth.

The girls recruit Katie, Nikki, and Claire for a road trip. During the trip, deeper truths emerge. Katie reveals she has severe anxiety, something Alexis never knew. Claire confides that she secretly wants to become a therapist but doubts she is anything more than a pretty face. Nikki reveals she keeps a food diary as part of therapy for an unhealthy relationship with food, and both Alexis and Lexi feel ashamed for having mocked Nikki's eating habits. Lexi grows jealous, accusing Alexis of stealing her friends, but they reconcile when Alexis admits she was never a good friend and Lexi acknowledges she would have remained one too.

Alexis creates a self-improvement plan requiring Lexi to attend classes and stop partying. Lexi grudgingly complies. Claire, inspired by Alexis's encouragement, pursues a psychology degree. When the dorms close for Thanksgiving, Lexi brings Alexis home. At the Spencer house, Alexis reunites with their chocolate lab, Bella, who has been dead for four years in 2016, and the dog recognizes her instantly. Their mother, Alice, is warm but suspicious, calling Alexis "Lexi" on more than one occasion. Their brother, Justin, develops an oblivious crush on Alexis, not realizing she is his sister. Throughout the visit, Alexis carries a devastating secret: Alice has an undiagnosed heart condition and will die suddenly on April 7, 2003, just five months away.

During the family's Christmas decorating tradition, Alice gives Alexis and Lexi matching silver snowflake pendant necklaces. Inside Alexis's jewelry box is a note she cannot bring herself to read. On Sunday, during their final embrace, Alice tells Alexis to read the note. In the car, Alexis opens it: "Lexi, a mother always knows. Love, Mom." She looks back to see Alice mouthing "I love you" as the car pulls away and whispers it back, weeping. Her mother recognized her daughter all along.

Back at school, Alexis spirals into despair, overwhelmed by the knowledge of her mother's impending death. She abandons her mission and gets drunk at a toga party, making out with the fraternity president, Mark. She is on his bed when Lexi bursts in and drags her away. The two fight violently in the hallway. Lexi storms out, threatening to get the "Live Laugh Love" lower-back tattoo Alexis despises, and runs toward downtown. Alexis chases her, and Lexi, looking back to taunt her, steps off the curb and is struck by a car.

Lexi survives with a severe concussion, fractured ribs, and a broken tibia. She bans Alexis from visiting, and Alexis sleeps on the waiting room floor for two days. Katie arranges a tutor, and a young man named AJ arrives. Alexis sneaks past the ban and realizes AJ is Andrew James, the man she loves in the future. In Alexis's original timeline, she met Andrew during a spring campus run, but Lexi's broken leg makes that meeting impossible. Andrew has entered their life through a different path, confirming their connection is fate.

While changing in Lexi's hospital room, Alexis discovers a surgical scar on her own leg identical to Lexi's wound, a scar she never had before. The discovery confirms that she, not Lexi, has been the destructive force in her own life. She tells Lexi she was wrong: Lexi was never the problem. Alexis herself is both the problem and the solution. Lexi agrees but says she feels changed too. Alexis asks Lexi to promise to live life the way she wants. Lexi promises, and they embrace, crying.

When Alexis opens her eyes, she is back in her Chicago apartment in 2016. Andrew stands before her with the Tiffany box open, asking if her answer is yes. She says yes. Alexis discovers the future has been transformed: Nikki is a teacher, Katie is an ER doctor, Claire is a therapist and author whose latest book is titled Get a Plan, Not a Man, Justin is engaged, and her father has remarried. Alexis herself is a copywriter at an advertising firm. A text from her father mentions that Alice got to meet Andrew, a memory made possible by Alexis's time in 2002. The silver snowflake pendant still hangs from her neck. In the mirror, her leg bears a faded scar, her nose is unchanged by surgery, and her lower back is clean, with no tattoo. On her dresser, the old college photo of her and her friends sits in a frame. She whispers thanks to Lexi for being the girl she was, and she and Andrew leave for their engagement dinner.