Summaries

Synopsis

The movie opens with a scene of a girl floating under water, until a hand grabs her and pulls her up. At this point, it is clear this was a dream the main character was having. She awakens in an white room containing a sink, toilet, chair, and a purse on the chair. Above the sink and toilet there are two drawings, one of a brain and one of a chair on a tilt as though it's about to fall backwards. On the opposite side of the room, there is a small rectangular window. She has a bandage around her head, along with two bandages around each of her knees. She immediately tries to get up but finds herself unable to walk.

A man enters the room and tells her his name, Thomas Allcroft, and explains he has kidnapped her and will stay there until she falls in love with him. He then tells her that her name is Ruby Watz, she studied law at university, she was born in Dorset, her mother was a paramedic and her father was an architect, she is an only child and she is still afraid of the dark. Immediately she is scared and asks what he has done to her, and Thomas explains that he severed her ligaments and if she even tries to move she could cause irreparable damage that could prevent her from walking ever again. The only thing Thomas gives Ruby is some food, and explains he has not looked through her purse since it is her personal belongings. He also explains he has given her two painkillers and a contraceptive, and will continue to bring her meals throughout the day. He warns against her trying to escape and says if she needs anything he will do it for her. This includes going to the bathroom and bathing. As he leaves Ruby asks if he raped her, and he whispers no.

After he leaves Ruby eats the food but refuses to take the pills. Thomas explains that she must take the painkillers or else she will only feel worse. The next morning he adjusts her back up and delivers her breakfast, he blows his nose as he leaves. Once he is gone Ruby drags herself across the room to where her purse is sitting on a chair. She rifles through it to find anything validating her identity or what Thomas has told her, and everything seems to be true when she finds her ID. As she hears him coming, she begins to pack everything up and drag herself back to wear she was sitting, but a tennis ball slips out and she grabs it just in time as he comes in to deliver her next meal. Thomas inspects her and sees she is flushed and warm, so he forces her to take more painkillers because he believes her to be in more pain than before.

There is a flash back to the water dream that was seen at the beginning of the movie, and then Ruby wakes up again. She has seemingly forgotten everything from the day before, as Thomas re explains everything to her. This time he clarifies the contraceptive pill is to stop her menstrual cycle, and says he has no sexual intent with her. Again she asks if he raped her, but this time he gets upset and refuses to answer her, throwing the chair and her purse onto the ground as he exits. She finds the tennis ball in her back pocket from the day before and begins to realize she has been here longer than she knows. The next two scenes show Thomas doing physical therapy with Ruby, and bathing her. After this Ruby is shown playing with the tennis ball after hours.

The next morning Ruby itches behind her ear and finds the origin of her head injury. Curious, she moves across the room to pull a compact mirror out of her purse. With the mirror alone she is unable to get a good look, so she breaks it to have two pieces to reflect and see it more clearly. Thomas watches her through the crack in the door, but gives himself away when he blows his nose. Ruby stows the jagged broken piece of mirror in the gauze around her knee, and Thomas enters to give her the painkillers.

That night once Ruby is asleep, Thomas begins to play a tape that reinforces Ruby's injuries. It repeats over and over "Your legs are broken, you cannot walk. Even the idea of standing fills you with excruciating pain. Do not try to move. There is no hope of escape." As it plays, he begins to clean the room for her, eventually falling asleep in the room as well. He wakes and stops the tape, then begins to turn the light on in the room and wakes Ruby as well. He again repeats all of the information he said on day 1, and a montage is seen of Ruby and how she lives her days and nights.

Ruby loosens the screws on the sink in her room, causing a leak. She has seemingly done this to get more time to talk to Thomas. As Thomas begins to fix it, she asks him what happens if she doesn't fall in love with him. He does not respond, and leaves the room to get cleaning supplies for the leak. He asks her what she needs and if he can get anything for her. Ruby asks for a pillow, blanket, and a book to read. He then asks her what she thinks of the two drawings on the wall, she says they're okay. Thomas also states she looks better, and Ruby says thank you.

Thomas gets her what she wants, and Ruby instantly recognizes the book he gave her. He explains it is a trigger, a way for her to remember her past. She gets excited at the opportunity to remember more, as she is getting better every day. At her next meal Thomas offers her a hot drink, and she requests a red bush tree. He returns immediately with it ready and she is astounded at how he knew she would choose it. He said its the only thing she drinks, she asks how he knows so much about her and he says he did his research. Once he leaves she finds a page in the book that she has clearly been writing on in code, and finds that it says not to trust Thomas. He brings in a table for them to eat at just as she discovers the writing, and she quickly hides it again.

During their meal she is clearly distraught and blames it on the story line of the book, but Thomas can tell there's something else wrong. She asks how many other women he has kidnapped and claims she doesn't feel special. He gets upset and hits his hand on the silverware, causing it to bleed. He reassures her that she is the only one, and she starts to play into the idea that she is beginning to love him.

Later, Thomas checks Ruby's knee injuries and says they still need time to heal. She checks them herself, and while still weak she begins to train to get her strength back. As she does so, she remembers another memory with Thomas where he drugged her as she tried to escape. She again reads through the notes in the book and discovers it is all written in ash, triggering a memory of her using a match to write and where she hid it in the room. She goes to where it was hidden and finds what seems like hundreds of matches, emphasizing she has been here for longer than she remembers.

During their next meal, she asks for a candle to steal the match again. As Thomas leaves to get it, she chugs her water. Once the candle is lit, he places the match down to her right, next to her empty water glass. As she reaches for the match slowly, she tells Thomas about a reoccurring dream she has been having, the same one where she is floating underwater until someone reaches for her. By the end of the story, she has grabbed the match but Thomas is also holding her hand. She begins to cough, placing the hand with the match on her chest to slide it into her shirt, and uses her other hand to drink water from Thomas' glass from the opposite side of the table.

He brings her two more books, and another montage begins showing Ruby writing, training, and pretending to still be weak while doing physical therapy with Thomas. She writes another note to herself, play along. The next morning she is doing push ups, then quickly goes back to her bed when she hears Thomas approach. Using the water from her last meal, she cools herself off and picks up a book to make it look as though she has just been reading. This time, she is more dismissive of Thomas and his requests. They again practice walking, where Ruby is convincingly weak.

During her next meal, she again has a flashback. This time to a dinner with her and Thomas when they were seemingly dating before he kidnapped her. He explains it is a flashbulb memory, which are extremely vivid. Thomas explains it was their anniversary meal, and neither knows how to respond after that.

In the evening Ruby brushes her teeth and notices it is her signature on the drawings hanging above the sink and toilet. The next morning, she peers through the window to see Thomas rowing a boat in the body of water outside.

Later Ruby tells Thomas about her favorite passage from the first book he gave her, and he shares more memories from before he kidnapped her and how they met, explaining they have known each other since they were kids. That evening Thomas puts her to bed, and she has a quick memory of him on top of her while she was in distress.

The next day while she is reading, he comes in and has her stand, he dims the lights and plays music for them to dance to. Ruby does not want to touch him, but then has a flashback to their prom night. It shows Thomas admitting his feelings for her, and Ruby shares his feelings, though seems hesitant. They kiss, then the flashback ends. She realizes he hasn't been lying to her about their past involvement.

Later on Thomas shows her what his remote controls, and she dims the lights and begins to play a song while she does something of a strip tease. Thomas tries to act disinterested but is smiling and laughing. Ruby sits on his lap and they kiss, but she gets overwhelmed so they stop. She begins to cry and asks her why he kidnapped her and had to do all of this. Thomas explains.

Flashbacks begin, and they open with a man asking Ruby why they've never gotten together. Thomas was on his way to Ruby's place to visit for a weekend. Ruby was walking home with her flatmate, a man named Nick, and is not answering her phone. It becomes clear this is the man who asked Ruby who they haven't dated or had sex, as he again asks and she says no because she loves Thomas. Once Ruby and Nick got home, he began sexually assaulting her.

Thomas has a friend, Rob, drive him to Ruby's place and finds that the door is open. He walks into Ruby's room and finds Nick on top of her with Ruby passed out and begins to hit Nick, eventually killing him. Thomas is then seen on top of Ruby, giving her memory from before different context. They go back to Rob's car, and Rob is scared and doesn't know what to do with the man Thomas just killed. They go to what seems like Rob's house, and Ruby has no memory of who Thomas is. Rob tries to call the police but Thomas stops him.

Thomas has Rob drive them far away, and explains he blames himself for Ruby's assault. Thomas continues to explain that they went to a remote island where he found an abandoned farm house, and that is where they have been staying. He cleaned her room up, and added the features seen throughout the movie. When they first arrived, Ruby kept forgetting everything every night. She couldn't remember Thomas or anything else, even with him showing her pictures and important parts of their past.

Thomas began to do research on her condition, retrograde amnesia. He learned that she had forgotten everything from before the attack, and found that if she slept for too long she would forget everything all over again. He learned better ways to help her remember, and started her on a tight schedule so she could learn for more than one day. Many scenes are shown of Thomas trying different ways to get Ruby to remember, one of which showing her draw the brain and the chair that now hang above the sink. After trying many different scenarios, Thomas decided to go with the story line that he had kidnapped her.

He ends the story by saying he has finally fixed her, and explains this was the only way he could gain her trust. They say I love you and embrace. Thomas and Ruby then have sex, falling asleep together. Ruby wakes up and kisses Thomas on the cheek, before seemingly forgetting who he is. She grabs the broken shard of mirror, and begins to stab Thomas. We are shown blood spatters around the room while they continue to fight. Ruby is shown crawling out of the room, covered in blood. She makes it out of the room, leaving Thomas bleeding out. She leaves the house and runs to the boat. She is able to push it out to sea, but passes out from exerting too much energy.

The final scene shows Ruby on a hospital bed. A picture hangs on the wall, showing Ruby and Thomas at prom. A nurse greets her saying she has had an accident, but the surgery was successful. The nurse claims that because of her surgery, she has short term memory loss. He then says that he will go get Ruby's boyfriend. The nurse is Thomas, Ruby is in the same room, and he begins the cycle all over again.