The House Next Door

Ingrid, a successful author, learns that her former colleague Martha is terminally ill. They reconnect at a Manhattan hospital where Martha is receiving treatment. Martha begins to tell Ingrid the life story that shaped her.

In the 1970s Martha becomes pregnant by Fred, a young man she met in college. She carries the child while balancing her ambitions and evolving relationships. The looming pregnancy foreshadows the turbulent path ahead.

Fred leaves to fight in the Vietnam War and returns scarred by PTSD. The condition strains his relationship with Martha and sets the stage for later separations.

Fred later leaves and remarries, leaving Martha’s daughter Michelle with questions about Fred’s whereabouts. The family’s instability deepens as secrets creep in.

To appease Michelle, Martha reaches out to Fred’s wife, who reveals that Fred died trying to save a nonexistent person, voices he heard from a house fire. The revelation casts doubt on what the family believes about Fred and deepens Martha's guilt.

Michelle grows resentful of her mother and becomes estranged, feeling neglected and misled by the tangled history. The daughter's questions about Fred’s fate echo through Martha’s life and their relationship remains fractured.

In the present, Martha reveals that she has bought euthanasia pills and intends to end her life. She confesses the plan to Ingrid, who is conflicted but begins to understand Martha’s need for control.

Despite initial conflict, Ingrid agrees to stay with Martha during her final moments. They move to a rented country house in Woodstock, New York.

Martha tells Ingrid that she will know of her death when the bedroom door is closed the following morning. Ingrid wakes to find the door closed, but Martha is still alive, explained away as a breeze that closed the door after she opened a window.

Despite Martha’s explanation, Ingrid remains unsettled and irritated by the unexplained episode. The incident ratchets up the tension between belief, memory, and Martha's plan.

Ingrid lunches with Damian, a fellow writer who once shared both her and Martha’s lover, and who knows about Martha’s plan. He helps hire a lawyer Ingrid can rely on to defend against the police after Martha dies.

Ingrid discovers Martha dead on a lounge chair outside, with a note thanking her and asking to contact Michelle. She reports the death to the police, and a religious fundamentalist officer questions her claim that she didn’t know about Martha’s suicide plans.

Ingrid contacts Michelle and invites her to the house where Martha died. They lie together on the lounge chairs outside as it snows, confronting Martha’s choice and their shared past.