The Wrong Daughter

At a Saturday brunch in a packed restaurant, Caitlin meets Florence for the first time in weeks. Their friendship has deteriorated since Olivia’s return, as Florence spends most of her time with Olivia instead of Caitlin. When Florence reveals that Olivia is helping with her wedding preparations, Caitlin feels hurt since she’s the maid of honor and has repeatedly offered assistance.

Florence announces that Olivia is enrolling at Bath College to study art (Caitlin’s abandoned dream). Caitlin is furious, having sacrificed that ambition after her sister’s abduction to avoid adding to her parents’ distress. Florence dismisses her anger and reveals two more pieces of news: Olivia will play “Clair de Lune” on piano at the wedding, despite Caitlin’s insistence that Olivia can’t play, and Florence has asked Olivia to be her joint maid of honor.

Though wounded, Caitlin accepts the decisions to avoid conflict. When Florence asks if she’s sleeping well, Caitlin admits that the break-in has made it difficult to rest. Florence says that Olivia told her about the incident but framed it as Caitlin merely thinking that someone was there. Caitlin insists that she was attacked by a masked man who has been following her, but Florence is skeptical, especially when she learns that Gideon, Caitlin’s therapist, who was with her in the park, didn’t see the stalker.

Caitlin shares her evidence that Olivia is an impostor: memory lapses about family members and locations, knowledge of a shed built after her abduction, and a secret second phone. Florence refuses to listen, warning that such claims will make Caitlin seem paranoid and alienate her parents. She reminds Caitlin of Olivia’s kindness in primary school, recalling how Olivia defended her against a bully on her first day.

When Caitlin suggests that a DNA test would prove her theory, Florence reveals that a test was conducted but came back inconclusive due to a sample fault. When police requested a second test, Olivia refused, and the Ardens supported her decision. Florence also discloses that she, Oscar, and Olivia have been discussing their concerns about Caitlin. Florence notes that according to Olivia, her abductor wasn’t wearing a mask, contradicting Caitlin’s childhood memory.

Before they can continue, Florence’s phone rings. It’s Clara, calling to say they’ve found Simon Briggs, the man who took Olivia. He’s dead and has been for weeks.

Caitlin and Florence rush to Blossom Hill House, where Oscar arrives moments later. While Olivia and Florence go upstairs, the family meets with Lead Detective Inspector Grimshaw. He explains that they located Simon Briggs’s property based on Olivia’s description, which matched perfectly, including the locks on the bedroom where she was held.

Grimshaw details Briggs’s background. Twenty-three years ago, he was a Deputy Headteacher who resigned after inappropriate behavior with a former student. He developed an alcohol addiction, sold his house, and moved to rural Gloucestershire, where he became a reclusive doomsday prepper, living without modern technology but keeping a well-stocked larder and a collection of books and sketches of young women.

Briggs died of thallium poisoning; a vial of the poison and whisky were found beside his body. Grimshaw outlines the symptoms (nausea, burning sensations, paralysis, and suffocation) and notes that Briggs left a letter explaining his death by suicide. A handwriting sample from his former workplace confirmed that he wrote the letter. The autopsy indicated that he died only days after Olivia returned; he has been dead for weeks.

This timeline contradicts Caitlin’s recent sighting of the masked man. When she asks if Briggs could have been murdered, Grimshaw concedes that it’s possible, but notes that it would make Olivia the only suspect. Clara insists that this is impossible, and Grimshaw confirms that only Briggs’s and Olivia’s DNA was found at the scene.

During the silent drive home, Oscar is visibly angry. At their house, he confronts Caitlin about the questions she asked the police. She tells him she believes that the woman isn’t her sister and lists her evidence, including her lack of memory about the significant gold-bee journal she was given as a child. Oscar becomes increasingly hostile, demanding to know who else she has told. When Caitlin mentions only Florence, he grows more agitated, blocking her exit by slamming the door. She realizes that he could hurt her. He warns her to stop digging and then abruptly leaves.

Shaken, Caitlin decides to verify Oscar’s story about Sam working at Adaline Fray Interiors. She speaks with Mel, an assistant, who confirms that no one named Sam works there. Realizing that Oscar lied and that his deceptions began after Olivia’s return, Caitlin tries Oscar’s office door and finds that it’s locked and that the key is missing.

Heath spends hours each day practicing with the rifle while Elinor remains alone, thinking of Flynn and mourning what they could have had. She has kept a few of his belongings, including his jacket. One day, she hears a noise downstairs and discovers Uncle Robert in the study, drunk. He has sold his London flat and lost his job, and he blames the siblings for his misfortunes.

Elinor begs him to leave before Heath returns, but Robert refuses. He rants about Heath being arrogant and lazy like their father, Nicholas, and recalls how Nicholas married their mother, Alison, even though Robert loved her first. Robert reveals that Nicholas intercepted a parcel meant for him, used it as a pretext to visit Ledbury Hall, and won Alison’s heart, but was motivated by her wealth rather than genuine affection. Robert confesses that Nicholas’s reckless yacht trip killed not only him and Alison but also Robert and Nicholas’s parents, Elinor’s paternal grandparents.

Robert says that beautiful people like her and Heath always win and admits that he tried to teach them to value their minds over their looks because beauty fades. As he sobs over his lost career, Elinor feels unexpected pity. For the first time, she sees fatherly affection in his eyes as he tells her she looks just like her mother and reaches out to stroke her hair.

Heath’s shadow appears in the doorway. Panicking, Robert tries to pull away, but his fingers tangle in Elinor’s hair, causing her to yell. Heath raises the rifle and shoots Robert in the chest before he can speak, killing him instantly.

On Tuesday, while her parents work and Olivia attends therapy with Gideon, Caitlin sneaks into Blossom Hill House. She searches Olivia’s room for the secret phone but finds only expensive new clothes and the diary box under the bed. Frustrated, she decides to conduct her own DNA test, collecting hair from Olivia’s brush and the head from her electric toothbrush, which she replaces with a new one.

While bagging the toothbrush head, Caitlin drops it and discovers a small case taped beneath the bathroom basin. Inside are forget-me-not-blue contact lenses (the eye color that convinced Caitlin that this woman was her sister). The discovery makes her even more certain that the woman is an impostor, though Caitlin knows Olivia could deny they’re hers. She decides to wait for the DNA test results before confronting anyone.

At her house, Caitlin finds her friend Gemma waiting outside. Gemma apologizes for being distant after learning about Olivia and explains that she felt hurt that Caitlin never told her about her missing sister. Caitlin admits that she feared judgment and rejection. Gemma reveals that she’s quitting her teaching job to travel, having broken up with her girlfriend, Lisa, because she wasn’t ready to settle down. She plans to work for her friend Cleo, who owns an aerial fitness studio.

When Gemma mentions seeing Oscar in Bath that morning with Olivia (despite his claim of being in Oxford), Caitlin’s suspicions deepen. After Gemma leaves, Gideon calls from a private number to warn Caitlin that Olivia didn’t show up for therapy. He urges her to take the evidence to the police. They discuss the inconclusive DNA test and how Olivia could have sabotaged it.

At home, Caitlin finds a hand-delivered manila envelope containing a manuscript about her family’s story. She reads through it, realizing that Oscar is betraying her by publishing her innermost thoughts and secrets.

Caitlin sits at the kitchen table, the manuscript before her, waiting for Oscar to return. He arrives with Thai takeout. When she confronts him about his whereabouts, he admits that he returned from Oxford that morning but was in meetings. After she presses him further, he confesses that the woman he met with was Olivia. Caitlin slides the manuscript across the table.

Horrified, Oscar asks how she obtained it. Caitlin confronts him about writing a book on her sister’s abduction and exploiting their family’s trauma for profit. He admits that he has been writing since they met and orchestrated their first meeting as research. She realizes that his proposal and push for marriage were tactics to boost his credibility as an author. He confesses that his supposed police contact was a lie and that Sam is his editor at Harriers Publishing House.

The revelations continue: Oscar knew Olivia before meeting Caitlin; he’s the boy on the bus who gave her the gold-bee journal 16 years ago. Caitlin understands that she was a consolation prize: If Olivia hadn’t been taken, Oscar would have been with her instead. He tries to justify his actions, explaining that Harriers is paying substantial money that will allow them to travel and enable Caitlin to pursue her art.

When Caitlin demands that he pull the book from publication, Oscar refuses. He attempts to shift blame, suggesting that Caitlin, too, made mistakes by prioritizing travel over their wedding. Realizing that he values the book more than their relationship, Caitlin ends it. Oscar accepts the breakup and goes to pack a bag, confirming that his ambitions always mattered to him more than she did.

Unable to think clearly with Robert’s body on the study floor, Heath and Elinor wrap him in the blood-soaked rug. They carry him into the woods and spend hours digging a grave in the frozen earth. Afterward, Elinor vomits beside the grave before they burn their bloody clothes and shower.

The next morning, Elinor finds Heath in the study, drinking from their uncle’s chipped glass, which still bears a speck of blood. When she tries to reassure him that the shooting was an accident, Heath states coldly that he meant to kill Robert. In the following weeks, Elinor has nightmares and loses her appetite. Heath drinks constantly and is quick to anger, breaking objects in violent outbursts. Realizing that her brother is no longer her safe place, Elinor feels like she’s living with a dangerous animal.

She replays Robert’s final moments, recalling the unexpected pity she felt for him and his fatherly affection. She realizes that by killing him, Heath has merely exchanged one fearful existence for another. Her resentment toward her brother grows, but she swallows it because he’s all she has left. More than anything, she wishes she could escape into another family and become someone else entirely.

Three days after Oscar’s departure, Caitlin prepares to spend the night before Florence’s wedding at Fawsley Hall. She and Oscar have agreed not to announce their separation until after Florence’s wedding. The house no longer feels like home, and Caitlin worries about her uncertain future.

As she leaves, she discovers a Post-it note that fell from the manuscript envelope: “You needed to know. See you soon” (245). She considers who might have sent it (Gemma, Florence, Olivia, or the masked man), concluding that the masked man is most likely responsible, and interprets the message as a threat.

At Fawsley Hall, Caitlin checks in and receives two room keys, having forgotten to inform the hotel that Oscar wouldn’t accompany her. Olivia appears, startling her. After taunting Caitlin about Oscar’s absence and implying involvement in her receiving the manuscript, Olivia reminds her to be in Room 22 at eight o’clock the next morning. As Caitlin asks if Olivia knows her real sister, a group of wedding guests arrives. Olivia suddenly grabs Caitlin in a staged embrace and, in a whisper, warns that someone is watching and urges her to run. She then immediately switches to greeting the other guests.

Terrified by the warning, Caitlin searches for Olivia, but she has disappeared. A hotel receptionist refuses to divulge Olivia’s room number. In her room, Caitlin sets an alarm for six o’clock in the morning to intercept Olivia at Florence’s suite. Unable to sleep, she worries about the masked man. She jolts awake to find that her phone has been turned off, and it’s after 8:30 am—she’s very late.

She rushes to Room 22, but it’s the wrong room. After 15 frustrating minutes, a different receptionist gives her the correct number: Room 17. Cheryl, the hairstylist, greets her reproachfully. Inside, Florence, her mother (Susan), her Aunt May, a makeup artist, and a photographer are already at work. Florence gives her a withering glare. Caitlin suspects that Olivia swiped the second key card to her room, entered to switch off her phone, and purposely gave her the wrong room number.

Unable to apologize privately, Caitlin spends the morning being as helpful as possible. During photographs, Olivia whispers an inside joke, triggering a memory of a rare, happy moment they recently shared. The photographer captures them laughing, but Caitlin quickly pulls away, recognizing it as another game. Later, Florence approaches, and the tension thaws. Caitlin tries to apologize, but Florence kindly requests no more surprises. As they hug, Caitlin sees Olivia watching them over Florence’s shoulder with a slow, malicious grin.

In the hallway before the ceremony, the nervous Florence turns to Caitlin for reassurance. Caitlin comforts her, and they share a loving moment. As the string quartet plays “She Burns” by Foy Vance, Caitlin walks down the candle-lined aisle and spots her parents; her father beams at her. Olivia follows, drawing attention from everyone, including the bride. Florence enters, and Caitlin feels happiness for her friend mixed with envy.

The ceremony begins with Susan reading from Corelli’s Mandolin (1994). As Caitlin cries during a passage about love being a temporary madness, Olivia touches her knee and then pinches hard through the dress. She leans in and issues a death threat, saying that if Caitlin keeps digging, they’ll bury her next to her sister.

Horrified and believing that Olivia has just confessed to murdering her sister, Caitlin panics. She demands that Olivia repeat herself, but Olivia ignores her. Overcome with rage and grief, Caitlin jumps to her feet and shouts for an answer. The room falls silent. She accuses Olivia of killing her sister. Olivia feigns confusion and fear, denying everything. Caitlin slaps her across the face and then lunges, and they fall to the ground fighting as Caitlin screams.

Someone pulls Caitlin away. Florence, crying, orders that Caitlin be removed and embraces Olivia. The sight of Florence’s ruined bouquet, especially a broken sunflower, sobers Caitlin. Outside in the car park, her father furiously confronts her. Caitlin tries to explain that the woman threatened her and confessed that Olivia is dead. Her parents think Caitlin is having a breakdown.

Caitlin finally confesses her long-held guilt over not calling the police immediately the night of Olivia’s abduction, admitting that she heard her father blame her years ago. His face falls, and he tries to tell her it wasn’t her fault, but Clara interrupts with devastating news: They conducted a second DNA test through the police, which conclusively proved that the woman is Olivia.

Stunned, Caitlin sees Olivia emerge, looking sorrowful, followed by Florence and her family. The weight of her actions (ruining the wedding and attacking her sister) crushes her. She breaks down in hysterical laughter that dissolves into raw, uncontrollable crying. Feeling broken and watched by everyone, Caitlin turns and runs.

Heath storms into the reception room where Elinor is playing piano, holding Flynn’s jacket and a box of trinkets he found under her bed. He confronts her about the items and taunts her about wanting an ordinary life with someone like Flynn. When Elinor defiantly says she could have loved Flynn, Heath notes that Flynn abandoned her and that she was just a casual fling to him.

Elinor retorts that at least Flynn isn’t a murderer. Enraged, Heath slaps her hard across the face. Fearing further violence, Elinor flees. After she walks for 40 minutes, a middle-aged woman named Trish pulls over and offers her a lift into town. In the car, Elinor admits that her parents are dead and that she lives with her brother. When Trish asks if he hit her, Elinor says only that he loves her. Trish responds with a warning that one can love something so much that they hold on too tightly and thereby destroy it.

Caitlin drives home from the wedding venue, trembling and distraught. At her empty house, she feels numb and relives the disaster. She reflects on losing everything: her best friend, her fiancé, her dignity, and possibly her parents and job. Seeing the painting from Oscar’s proposal reminds her that their entire relationship was built on lies.

Feeling utterly alone, she calls Gideon and asks to meet him. As she approaches the park in Bath, dizziness from stress and lack of food causes her to stumble into the road. A car screeches toward her, but Gideon slams into her, pushing her to safety. Shaken and unable to drive, she accepts his offer to go to his house.

He lends her a T-shirt and a pair of boxers while her dress is in the wash. Upstairs, she finds a photograph of his wife in a wedding dress hidden in a drawer. Over dinner and wine, they talk like old friends. She admits that she and Oscar broke up. They move to the living room, and she tells him about Oscar’s book and the wedding disaster.

Gideon reassures her that Olivia meticulously orchestrated her outburst. He suggests that Olivia is jealous of the life Caitlin has that was stolen from her. Caitlin insists that her sister wasn’t vengeful and wouldn’t hurt her. Gideon points out that 16 years is a long time and that people change. Caitlin still believes that the woman is an impostor.

An electric tension builds between them. Caitlin initiates intimacy, but Gideon pulls away, saying that this is her chance to travel and he doesn’t want to stop her from pursuing her dreams. He promises that he’ll be there when she returns and encourages her to be brave and do something for herself.

Inspired by Gideon, Caitlin returns home and writes a letter to her parents, explaining that she’s leaving to travel. She emails the school where she works to request time off and arranges for her Wanderlust Illustrations business to operate from abroad. She drafts an email to Oscar, suggesting they rent out the house, and books a flight to Italy for the following night. She tries to write to Florence but finds no words adequate for an apology.

When she turns on her phone, she finds no missed calls from her parents, confirming her isolation. Her phone rings with a call from a withheld number—it’s Olivia. She mocks Caitlin about the wedding and offers to give her answers in exchange for a meeting. She claims that the real Olivia is alive. Though suspicious, Caitlin feels that she has no choice. Olivia lays out her terms: meet alone and get answers, or refuse and be ruined completely.

The meeting is set for just before midnight at the abandoned shed in the woods behind Blossom Hill House. Caitlin must leave her phone at home, proving it via a tracking app. However, she plans to secretly record the meeting using Oscar’s old work phone. She calls Gideon and tells him everything, asking him to come as backup. They agree that he’ll arrive 10 minutes early to scout the area. Fearing that the masked man might appear, Caitlin takes a small, sharp knife from the kitchen for protection.

On the same day that Heath hit her, Elinor goes into town, hoping to find Flynn at the music shop. She watches him lock up and tells him she has missed him and wants to go to South Africa with him. Flynn rejects her, explaining that it doesn’t matter that Heath lied about her age. He reveals that Heath visited him after discovering their relationship and threatened to kill him if he came near Elinor again. He believes the threat.

Flynn tells her not to contact him again and walks away. Devastated, Elinor cries out. He stops, turns back, and pulls her into his arms as she sobs. After holding her, he repeats that they can never see each other again, but gives her one piece of advice: Get out of Ledbury Hall and away from Heath. He warns her that Heath is dangerous and she isn’t safe with him.

Caitlin navigates the pitch-black woods, feeling watched and hoping it’s Gideon. She sees a light and finds Olivia outside the shed in her bridesmaid’s dress and evening gloves. Olivia begins by revealing that she has known about Oscar’s book for years and helped him write it. She claims that Oscar was having an affair with her. She says Oscar orchestrated her posing as Olivia and faked the DNA test using a lock of hair that the real Olivia gave him 16 years ago when they met on the bus.

Olivia claims that Oscar masterminded the masked-stalker plot for a book sequel and originally planned to kill Caitlin. After these shocking revelations, she admits that most of it was a lie, a tale she spun to prove how little Caitlin trusted Oscar and that he wasn’t right for her. Completely confused, Caitlin demands real answers.

Olivia says Caitlin broke the rules by bringing someone. Caitlin spots Gideon lying motionless beneath a tree. As Olivia steps into the light, Caitlin realizes that the “evening gloves” are actually blood coating her arms to the elbows. Olivia touches Caitlin’s mouth, smearing blood on her lips, and says she also broke the rules.

A man’s voice speaks from behind Caitlin. She turns and comes face-to-face with the masked man. He lunges, clamping a chemical-soaked cloth over her mouth. As she fights and loses consciousness, she knocks his mask aside, but her vision blurs before she can see his face. Darkness takes her.

That same night, Flynn calls Elinor a taxi and pays for it without looking back. In the car, she decides that she will leave Ledbury Hall and her brother for good. She arrives home to find Heath awake and waiting. He apologizes desperately for hitting her, and she cries. She tells him that she loves him, understanding that they both just want to be loved.

Later, she gets Heath drunk on champagne and vodka while secretly drinking water. After they have sex, she murmurs soothing words until he falls asleep. She dresses in the dark, takes his money and valuables from the house, and resists the urge to look at him one last time. As she tries to leave through the front door, a figure blocks her path: Heath.

He confronts her, enraged by her betrayal after he has dedicated his life to her. To make him let her go, she says she wishes she’d run away with Flynn and tells him that his love feels like being slowly crushed to death. Heath screams as if shot and smashes a console table. Elinor flees, dropping her bag, and runs toward the woods, Heath chasing her.

He catches her by the pond. She bites his arm to break free, but he catches her again, slamming into her and knocking her into the freezing water. He pulls her out, but then his hands close around her throat, and he forces her under again. She claws at him but can’t breathe or scream. She remembers Trish’s warning about being crushed by love.

Heath feels something snap as Elinor goes limp, but he still can’t release his grip. He holds her lifeless body underwater until he’s numb with cold. Finally, he lifts her from the pond, lays her on the ground, and stays with her until sunrise.