Tilt

The narrative flashes back to when Annie was 18 weeks pregnant. She attends a prenatal yoga class, feeling profoundly uncomfortable with her pregnancy and the social rituals of motherhood. Dom had suggested the class due to her increasingly negative demeanor. Annie views her growing belly as malignant and internally resists when the yoga teacher prompts participants to commune with their unborn babies. She becomes distracted by financial and existential worries and can think of nothing she wants to share with her child; in contrast, Dom has no problem talking cheerfully and affectionately to the baby, which makes Annie angry.

During introductions with other pregnant women, Annie feels anxious about comparing belly sizes and only admits to having trouble sleeping, hiding her deeper fears. When the class performs the goddess pose for 60 seconds to simulate a contraction, Annie’s muscles burn as she struggles both physically and mentally. Unable to continue or connect with the experience, Annie stands up before the pose is complete, feeling inadequate compared to the other mothers.

Annie and Taylor reunite with an emotional hug and finally introduce themselves to one another. Taylor shows Annie a photo of her daughter, Gabby, and reveals that she’s heading to Columbus Elementary School to find her despite having an injured foot. Annie explains that she’s also heading that way to find Dom. As they walk together, Taylor requests that Annie tell her a distracting story; Annie reveals that she met Dom while working on a play she wrote, while Taylor shares a story about taking Gabby to watch The Lion King.

When they reach the end of Sandy Boulevard, they encounter a collapsed I-84 overpass, and a UPS employee is organizing a precarious crossing over the intact guardrail. Taylor joins the line to cross over, with Annie reluctantly following. During the crossing, Annie stumbles but is helped by a man in neon sneakers, a physical therapist; he later tears his shirt to bandage Taylor’s swollen ankle. After he leaves, Annie and Taylor erupt in hysterical laughter, releasing their extreme tension from the dangerous crossing.

At 21 weeks pregnant, Annie undergoes an anatomy scan with Dom present, feeling detached and resentful throughout the procedure. The ultrasound tech cheerfully displays the baby’s features; Dom is moved, but Annie finds the skeletal image disturbing. After the tech leaves, Dom confronts Annie about her negative attitude. Annie confesses her deep fears, admitting that she thinks the baby might have been a mistake and listing anxieties about their fitness as parents, climate change, finances, and Dom’s acting dreams.

Dom reacts with disbelief and hurt, and then he desperately asks Annie to express some excitement about the baby. Annie forces herself to say that she’s excited, but her unconvincing tone strains their relationship further before a doctor enters, interrupting their tense conversation. That night, Annie obsessively researches morbid topics online—birth complications, infant mortality, and childhood cancer—further fueling her anxiety. When Dom asks if she’s awake, Annie lies, saying no, and hides her disturbing thoughts from him.

Back in the present, Taylor walks quickly with her bandaged foot while Annie struggles to keep pace, battling exhaustion and pain. They pass a familiar café, sparking Annie’s memories of Dom; Taylor reveals that she used to work there. Annie experiences an abdominal clench and then stumbles and vomits in the street; Taylor comforts her. Annie realizes that Bean isn’t moving again, which triggers new terror that she tries to dismiss as Braxton-Hicks contractions.

Annie urges Taylor to continue to the school alone, but Taylor desperately refuses, saying that she can’t go alone, compelling Annie to continue with her. As they near the river, the city becomes more crowded with anxious, displaced people. Annie asks Taylor for another distracting story; Taylor tells one about how Gabby lost a beach ball in the river and worried about how the plastic would pollute the ocean. Annie reflects on her intense longing for Dom and her deep connection with him, and she thinks that she can’t tell Taylor about this because Annie is not really a mother yet and cannot fully understand Taylor’s worry about Gabby. When Taylor spots Columbus Elementary in the distance, she begins to run toward it.

Annie recalls how she and Dom attended their final birth class, arriving late and feeling out of place among the other participants. During a discussion on labor pain, attendees share anxieties, while Annie feels distant from them and judges them. When her turn comes, Annie says that she’s winging it, to Dom’s chagrin. Dom then delivers an emotional speech about his pain at the thought of seeing Annie suffer, which impresses the class. The birth-class teacher rebrands pain as “sensation” and suggests creating a sexual environment during labor, including nipple stimulation, which Annie is critical of.

During a break, Annie examines her pregnancy mask (a skin condition that is common in pregnancy) in the bathroom mirror and encounters a fellow attendee. Previously, Annie mentally labeled her as a “Stepford wife” because of her perfect makeup and hair; however, the woman is now crying from feeling overwhelmed. The woman admits her fear of childbirth, and Annie opens up to her, confessing that she’s so scared that she’s numb. She also reveals that her mother died years ago, leaving her struggling with pregnancy without maternal guidance. They share a moment of genuine connection, both unconsciously rubbing their bellies in the same motion, finding brief solidarity in their shared anxieties.