Careful What You Wish For

As Doug Martin (Nick Jonas) enjoys his blissful summer with his parents at their tranquil lake house, the peace is disrupted by the arrival of the affluent investment banker Elliot Harper (Dermot Mulroney) and his captivating young wife, Lena Harper (Isabel Lucas). Doug quickly finds himself drawn to Lena, sparking chemistry between them. When Elliot recruits Doug to assist with his luxurious sailboat, the opportunity becomes a reason for the two to engage in flirtatious banter, particularly when Lena finds herself often alone due to her husband’s frequent business trips.

Their seemingly innocent interactions evolve into a heated affair, with the couple stealing moments of passion along the lake’s beautiful shores. Amid this romance, Lena confides in Doug warning him about Elliot’s possessiveness, disclosing her experiences of physical abuse attributed to her controlling spouse. The situation takes a dark turn when Doug discovers Elliot’s lifeless body in a neighboring home after Lena claims he attacked her, forcing her to act in self-defense.

As the investigation into Elliot’s sudden death begins, led by insurance investigator Angie Alvarez (Kandyse McClure), Doug becomes the primary suspect. The local sheriff, Paul Sorvino’s character, also grows suspicious, sensing a disturbance in the peaceful facade of their idyllic lake town. While Lena skillfully charms Doug into helping her conceal the truth, claiming she’s being falsely accused, the storyline deepens into a tumultuous web of deceit.

As the probe intensifies, Doug realizes he has been ensnared in Lena’s manipulative schemes, especially after she accuses him of stalking and assault. The tension escalates when a significant witness, the Harpers’ gardener, who knew of their secret meetings, is found murdered before he can come forward. With the odds stacking against him, Doug’s fight for justice becomes more perilous as he attempts to navigate through Lena’s clever traps.

In his quest for clarity, Doug visits the hotel where Lena has been secretly hiding with her accomplice, Angie—in what he believed was a pursuit to recover a pre-paid cellphone they once shared as crucial evidence. However, this innocent effort leads to a shocking discovery: Angie has been complicit in Lena’s deceptions since the beginning, their toxic partnership thrived on manipulation.

Though it appears Lena is ready to abandon Doug to bear the consequences of her actions alone, she chooses to leave behind one last piece of critical evidence—the cellphone containing information that could potentially redeem him. As she makes her escape with Angie on a private jet, leaving Doug’s fate hanging by a thread, he grapples with the haunting aftermath.

In a poignant voiceover, Doug reflects on his subsequent imprisonment, albeit for lesser offenses, while Lena and Angie remain free, their whereabouts a mystery. He’s left to wrestle with lingering thoughts of the consequences of their toxic love triangle, pondering whether he would relive the tumultuous journey, or if he ever truly had the freedom to choose at all.

Last Updated: November 19, 2024 at 16:00