The Good Nurse (2022) Full Movie Summary & Plot Explained

The movie opens in 1996 at Pennsylvania’s St. Aloysius Hospital, where a patient experiences a sudden medical emergency, prompting a frantic response from the nurses and doctors. Despite their desperate attempts to save the patient, she ultimately succumbs, leaving Charlie (the first responding nurse) in disbelief as the heart monitor emits the haunting sound of flat-lining.

Fast forward to 2003, we find ourselves at the bustling Parkfield Memorial Hospital in New Jersey, where Amy Loughren, portrayed by Jessica Chastain, is a well-respected nurse known for her compassion and dedication to her patients. Amy goes above and beyond, often allowing family members to stay longer than visiting hours when their loved ones are stable. However, her personal life is filled with challenges; not only is she a single mother to two young daughters longing for more of her attention, but she also grapples with a serious heart condition. Despite needing an urgent heart transplant, Amy conceals her illness from her colleagues fearing their judgement and potential job loss.

Amidst this backdrop, Charles Cullen enters the scene as a new male nurse, played by Eddie Redmayne. From the start, Charles appears kind and supportive, and the two quickly become friends. One night, after Amy falls ill, Charles learns about her heart condition and assures her that he will keep it a secret while also offering to help her for the next few months. However, the tone of their relationship shifts when a series of mysterious patient deaths begin to occur at the hospital.

One patient under Amy’s supervision dies unexpectedly, raising alarm bells regarding the circumstances of her passing. Although initial investigations are minimal, it becomes evident that the hospital is reluctant to expose any wrongdoing or negligence. The risk manager, Linda Garran (played by Kim Dickens), takes action too late, resulting in police intervention weeks after the incident, complicating the investigation with missing evidence.

The detective duo, Danny Baldwin and Tim Braun (played by Nnamdi Asomugha and Noah Emmerich, respectively), are left trying to unravel the mystery. They discover that Charles has an unsettling history involving multiple hospitals, each shrouded in allegations of unexplained patient deaths during his tenure. As secrets begin to unfurl, Amy learns through a colleague that there is a rumor implicating Charles in several suspicious patient deaths.

Determined to uncover the truth, Amy investigates and uncovers alarming evidence of Charles tampering with IV fluid bags to administer lethal doses of insulin and Digoxin. Despite her findings being inadmissible in court, she bravely provides the investigators with crucial information about Charles’s actions. Yet, in an all-too-familiar pattern, the hospital administration fires Charles without any serious repercussions, leaving the detectives scrambling for justice.

As the investigation heats up, the detectives enlist Amy’s help to draw a confession from Charles. She struggles with her fears concerning his increasing volatility, especially regarding her daughters’ safety. On the day of Charles’s dismissal, he visits her home unannounced, and the situation becomes a ticking time bomb.

In a desperate attempt to gain his confession, Amy returns to the police station to speak with him. Her kindness and empathy manage to break through his defense, leading Charles to admit to the killings—not out of malice, but from a twisted notion of mercy stemming from his own traumatic past.

In a chilling conclusion, the film reveals the true extent of Charles Cullen’s crimes—he ultimately confessed to killing 29 patients, although later estimates suggest that the actual number could be as high as 400. Claimed to be motivated by a misguided desire to save patients from mistreatment, Cullen’s actions left a web of devastation. The film wraps up with a reminder that Charles was sentenced to eighteen consecutive life terms in prison in 2003, and he remains incarcerated.