The Way I Hate Him

In the small Northern California coastal town of Almond Bay, Hayes Farrow, a famous solo musician, returns home after a year-long tour. He is creatively blocked, emotionally numb, and suspects his personal assistant, Matt, has been stealing from him. His grandmother has also fallen and fractured her hip, drawing him back.

Hattie Rowley, the youngest of four siblings, drives to Almond Bay after secretly failing all her midterms in her master's program in business management. She has been unable to focus since the death of her older sister Cassidy from breast cancer. Hattie plans to stay with her boyfriend Matt, who is also Hayes's assistant, but Matt dumps her the moment she arrives, calling her boring and mopey. While packing, Hattie discovers a box of items Matt stole from Hayes, including a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

Hattie drives to Hayes's coastal home to return the stolen items, partly out of decency and partly hoping to get Matt fired. Hayes catches her on his porch and recognizes her as the younger sister of Ryland Rowley, his former best friend turned bitter enemy. He bluffs that his security cameras captured her as an accomplice and presents two options: He reports her to the police, or she works for him organizing a year's worth of fan mail and files. Desperate for income and afraid of burdening her family, Hattie agrees to fifteen hundred dollars a week in cash.

To conceal her academic failure and her employment with the family's enemy, Hattie tells her siblings she is taking a semester off on her professors' advice and has an internship up the coast. Ryland, a high school math teacher and baseball coach, now has custody of Cassidy's four-year-old daughter MacKenzie and sleeps on the farmhouse couch, unable to enter Cassidy's bedroom. Aubree, another sister, has taken over Cassidy's businesses, The Almond Store and a potato farm, and is buckling under the pressure. Both siblings refuse Hattie's offers of help, insisting she focus on school.

As Hattie works at Hayes's house, the antagonism between them softens. When she drops a jar of pickles, the brand she and Cassidy shared every summer, and grows visibly upset, Hayes leaves without explanation and returns with every pickle variety the general store carries. On the beach one evening, Hayes confesses he cannot write music, and Hattie admits she feels shut out by her family. They bake Cassidy's signature cookies together, and the domestic intimacy marks a shift in their dynamic.

When Hattie's best friend Maggie, a wedding planner from San Francisco, visits and stays at Hayes's house, she inadvertently reveals that Hattie has been a secret fan of Hayes's music for years. That night by the firepit, Hattie leans against Hayes under the stars and nearly kisses him but pulls back. He tells her that getting involved would ruin her relationship with Ryland. Physical tension escalates through charged encounters, but Hayes repeatedly draws a line. Hattie, exhausted by his mixed signals, declares she is quitting.

The situation reaches a crisis when Ryland and Aubree reveal that Cassidy's will stipulates Hattie cannot help with the store, the farm, or MacKenzie until she graduates. When Hattie confesses she failed her midterms, Aubree erupts. That same evening, Hayes finds a letter Cassidy wrote before she died, asking him to reconcile with Ryland and be a friend to Hattie. He goes to Hattie but finds her drunk at the bar, carries her home, and stays the night. When she kisses him, he kisses back before stopping because she is intoxicated.

The next morning, Ryland arrives at the apartment after a tip from Ethel O'Donnell-Kerr, one of the town's unofficial governing figures, and finds Hayes in Hattie's bed. He attacks Hayes, and during the fight the feud's origin surfaces: Ryland spent over a decade believing Hayes got his girlfriend Samantha pregnant. Hayes insists Samantha lied. Abel, the town doctor who remained friends with both men, arrives and confirms Hayes's account. Ryland declares Hattie is dead to him. Cassidy's letter falls from Hayes's pocket, and Hattie learns that Cassidy wrote farewell letters to everyone but left no letter for her. She tells Hayes to leave.

On Cassidy's birthday, the family visits her grave, where MacKenzie hugs the gravestone and tells her mother she misses her. Afterward, Hattie confesses everything to Ryland, who forgives her, admitting he said terrible things in anger. He tells her that if she wants to pursue Hayes, she should, because life is too short.

After more than a week of grieving in Cassidy's room, Hattie emerges to discover that Hayes has secretly renovated the apartment above the store that he and Ryland destroyed in their fight, repainting, furnishing, and hanging family photos. Hattie drives to his house, and they share their first unimpeded kiss. He asks her on a proper date, and she agrees.

Their relationship develops quickly. They share vulnerable histories, including Hayes's abandonment by both parents. Together, they clear out Cassidy's room and transform it into a bedroom for Ryland. When they reveal it, Ryland tears up for the first time since Cassidy died and shares a hug with Hayes.

On Hattie's birthday, Hayes tells her he loves her and plans an entire day recreating the perfect day with Cassidy that Hattie once described: maple donuts, antique shopping, a puzzle, classic movies, and Cassidy's restored cardigan. The day shatters when Hayes's estranged mother, Pam Farrow, appears with screenshots from a sex tape Matt secretly recorded during the tour and demands three-quarters of a million dollars to suppress the footage. Hayes sends Hattie home and pursues legal action through Ruben, his agent. Triggered by his mother's manipulation, he drives to Hattie's apartment and breaks up with her, claiming he cannot trust anyone. When Hattie follows him in the rain, he lashes out, telling her that even Cassidy did not trust her enough to leave her anything. Hattie walks away.

Hattie falls into a deep depression. Ryland moves her into the farmhouse, and Aubree opens up, admitting that Hattie's resemblance to Cassidy makes it painful to be around her. Then a birthday package from Cassidy arrives, forwarded from San Francisco. Inside are their favorite pickles, a signed Hayes Farrow album, and most importantly, the deed to The Almond Store. Cassidy's letter calls Hattie her "rock" and her "person," explains she withheld the store to give Hattie time to grieve, and asks her to teach MacKenzie their traditions. Hattie decides to stay in Almond Bay.

Ryland drives to Hayes's house and apologizes for abandoning their friendship, telling Hayes that Hattie still loves him and challenging him to stop running from the past. Hayes admits he is scared but agrees he wants to be happy. At the farmhouse, Hayes apologizes to Hattie in the potato fields, explaining his mother's blackmail and his spiral. He tells her she is the reason he can feel anything at all. Hattie forgives him on the condition that he never pushes her away again.

In the epilogue, Hattie has moved in with Hayes. His mother has been served with a restraining order, and Matt faces legal consequences. Hayes is out of his label contract and writing music independently. On Hattie's first official day as owner of The Almond Store, Ryland brings donuts in Cassidy's honor, MacKenzie presents a drawing of her mother with angel wings, and Aubree hands over the key. Hayes watches as Hattie opens the door, carrying Cassidy's legacy forward.