Plot Explained Spoilers guaranteed!
Plot Explained

Browse by genre

The Untamed (2017) movie poster

Plot Summary

The Untamed (2017) Plot Summary & Ending Explained

Release, runtime and language
2017 · 98 min · Spanish
Echo score 76
Directed by
Amat Escalante
Starring
Andrea Peláez, Bernarda Trueba, Eden Villavicencio, Fernando Corona, Jesús Meza, Kenny Johnston

In a close-knit town grappling with unspoken secrets, a young mother's ordinary existence is upended by the arrival of the mysterious Veronica. Veronica offers a seemingly miraculous solution to the town's troubles, but her presence ignites simmering tensions and awakens dark forces. As the community struggles with its demons, they must confront the unsettling power Veronica embodies or face devastating consequences.

On this page (7)
  1. 1 Where to watch
  2. 2 What happens: full plot
  3. 3 Plot questions answered
  4. 4 How it ends
  5. 5 Movie threads
  6. 6 Movies like The Untamed
  7. 7 Every angle

Where to watch

Where to Watch The Untamed (2017)

Where can you watch The Untamed? Stream, rent or buy it in the US, including on Kanopy, Tubi TV and Amazon Video: current JustWatch availability with up-to-date prices.

Streaming availability powered by JustWatch

Full plot summary · contains spoilers

What Happens in The Untamed: Full Plot Summary

The whole story of The Untamed (2017) explained, from the opening scene to the final frame: every key event, every twist and what it all adds up to. Read it as a quick recap before the sequel, to check a scene you missed, or to finally understand what really happened.

A troubled, intimate drama unfolds across two intertwined stories in a stark rural setting. In one thread, a young mother named Alejandra is trapped in a loveless marriage with Ángel, a man who is secretly gay. Ángel carries a brittle public persona, often mocking Fabián, Alejandra’s brother and a nurse, while hiding a private affair with him. Alejandra’s life at home is tense and emotionally unfulfilling, fueling a deep sense of loneliness and sexual frustration. She tries to cope in small, intimate moments, and in a private shower she reaches toward release, only to be interrupted by the intrusion of her children, a moment that underscores how far she feels from the closeness she longs for. The contrast between outward appearances and inner hunger runs through this story, painting Alejandra’s longing in raw, human detail.

In the second thread, Veronica is drawn to a strange, tentacled alien creature that inhabits a crashed meteor kept by an elderly couple in a barn on the countryside. Over years, she explores a secret, intense sexual fascination with the creature, and the experiences bring her intense pleasure. The bond between Veronica and the alien is disrupted when the creature abruptly bites her abdomen, introducing danger where there had been a predictable routine. At the hospital, Veronica forms a fragile friendship with Fabián, who cares for her after the bite, while the couple who own the creature warn her that continuing these visits could put her at serious risk.

As the two storylines develop, tensions mount. Ángel confronts Fabián at work, demanding explanations for the end of their affair, while Fabián declares that their relationship is finished. Veronica, seeking more contact with the creature, is drawn back toward the barn, but the elderly couple decide that its presence has become hazardous. Soon, a frightening sequence unfolds: Fabián is found naked and beaten in a field, hospitalized and unconscious, and Alejandra discovers distressing text messages on Fabián’s phone—messages from Ángel pressing for sex and threatening violence. The resulting disclosures lead to Ángel’s arrest, with Alejandra and a witness from Fabián’s circle testifying to the turbulent dynamic that has fractured multiple lives.

The barn story deepens with mythic, eerie texture. The elderly couple recount how the alien arrived after something from the sky created a crater in a nearby field, a place where animals in the open air engage in wild, unrestrained copulation. Alejandra, increasingly entangled in the mystery surrounding the creature, is drugged by the couple and taken into the barn, where the alien once again asserts its power over her. She continues to visit the barn, sometimes bringing her children along when she cannot find someone to watch them, and the kids play nearby while she encounters the strange being. The couple’s caution about the creature’s violent potential grows heavier, and Veronica finds herself unable to satisfy her desires in ordinary ways, instead longing for the creature’s unique, overwhelming influence.

Meanwhile, Ángel’s parents, wealthy and influential, use their resources to secure his release, forcing him to leave town after a humiliating public ordeal. Undeterred, Ángel seeks reconciliation with Alejandra, hoping to rebuild the family unit he has fractured. Alejandra makes it clear that she has learned the truth about the harm Fabián endured, and, in a moment of rage and fear, Ángel strikes her. He pulls a gun and, in a panic, shoots himself in the leg. Alejandra helps him into her truck and drives away, steering toward the countryside. The pursuit culminates in a cruel turn of fate as she drags the semi-conscious man into the barn, where she discovers Veronica dead, and the creature looms ominously from above.

What follows is a bleak, restrained ending that braids these two narratives together with a sense of inevitability. The older couple and Alejandra jointly dispose of Veronica’s body and Ángel’s body by dumping them into a fresh pit, a grim tableau that underscores the rapid accumulation of corpses and the irreversible consequences of the characters’ choices. As the creature lowers itself toward Ángel’s prone form, the film closes on a stark image of the costs of desire, secrecy, and violence, leaving the viewer with a haunting sense of the boundaries between human longing and otherworldly threat.

Last updated: October 09, 2025 at 16:23

Was this helpful?

Plot questions answered

The Untamed Plot Explained: Your Questions Answered

The questions people ask most about The Untamed (2017): what happens in the confusing scenes, why the characters do what they do, the twists, hidden details and what the ending means. Each answer contains spoilers.

Q1

Why does Ángel attack Fabián after their affair ends

Ángel attacks Fabián because he's struggling with his own sexuality. Though they had a secret affair, Ángel maintains a public persona of mocking gay people, including Fabián. When Fabián ends the relationship, Ángel's rage stems from rejection and his inability to openly acknowledge his true self, leading him to assault the one person who knew his secret.

Foreshadowing: Early scenes show Ángel publicly ridiculing Fabián while secretly sleeping with him, establishing his pattern of hiding his true nature through aggression.

  • angel
  • fabian
  • affair
  • assault
  • sexuality
  • gay
Q2

Why does the alien bite Veronica during their encounter

The alien bite marks a shift from pleasure to danger in their relationship. Up until this point, Veronica experienced intense sexual gratification from the creature, but the bite introduces a violent element that foreshadows the creature's unpredictable nature and the fatal consequences that follow.

Foreshadowing: The elderly couple warned Veronica that continuing her visits could put her at serious risk, hinting at the danger ahead.

  • veronica
  • alien
  • bite
  • creature
  • barn
  • danger
Q3

What happens to Fabián after he's found naked in the field

Fabián is found naked and beaten in a field, left in a coma from the brutal assault. He becomes hospitalized and unconscious, unable to speak. The attack leaves him vulnerable and unable to testify initially about the abuse he suffered from Ángel.

Foreshadowing: Tensions between Ángel and Fabián escalate when Ángel confronts Fabián at work demanding explanations for ending their affair.

  • fabian
  • coma
  • assault
  • naked
  • hospital
Q4

Why does Alejandra keep returning to the barn after being drugged

After the elderly couple drugs her and forces her into an encounter with the alien, Alejandra becomes addicted to the creature's influence, much like Veronica was. Despite the danger, she continues visiting the barn regularly, even bringing her children along when she has no other childcare options, showing how deeply the creature's power has taken hold of her.

Foreshadowing: Veronica's own obsessive attraction to the alien foreshadows how this same pull will affect Alejandra.

  • alejandra
  • barn
  • alien
  • visits
  • addiction
  • children
Q5

Why does Ángel shoot himself in the leg during the confrontation

Ángel shoots himself in a moment of panic when his confrontation with Alejandra turns violent. After striking her, he pulls a gun, likely intending to threaten or harm her, but in his混乱 state, accidentally shoots himself. Alejandra then helps him into her truck, suggesting a complex mix of obligation, manipulation, or calculated decision-making.

Foreshadowing: Ángel's pattern of explosive, uncontrolled behavior throughout the film culminates in this moment of self-destruction.

  • angel
  • shooting
  • self-harm
  • gun
  • alejandra
  • confrontation
Q6

What causes Veronica's death at the barn

Veronica dies during Ángel and Alejandra's arrival at the barn. While the exact details of her death remain ambiguous, she is found dead inside the barn with the alien creature looming above, suggesting the creature killed her, possibly through its tentacled appendages or as a consequence of her continued dangerous encounters with it.

Foreshadowing: The elderly couple had warned that the creature's presence had become hazardous, and Veronica's obsessive returns to the barn made.

  • veronica
  • death
  • barn
  • alien
  • killed
Q7

Why does Alejandra testify against Ángel after discovering the texts

When Alejandra finds threatening text messages from Ángel on Fabián's phone, messages demanding sex and threatening violence, she learns the truth about the abuse Fabián suffered. This revelation, combined with her own experiences of Ágel's violence, motivates her to testify against him, leading to his arrest.

Foreshadowing: The discovery of these texts directly follows Fabián's hospitalization, connecting Ángel's secret relationship with the violence against him.

  • alejandra
  • testify
  • angel
  • texts
  • arrest
  • abuse
Q8

What is the significance of the meteor crash site in the story

The meteor crash created a crater in a nearby field where animals engage in wild, unrestrained copulation. This setting establishes the area as a place of primal, unchecked sexual energy, fitting for the alien creature's influence over humans. The crater becomes the symbolic and literal source of the alien's corrupting power over the town.

Foreshadowing: The elderly couple's explanation connects the meteor's arrival to the alien's presence, grounding the supernatural element in the landscape's wildness.

  • meteor
  • crater
  • field
  • animals
  • alien
  • origin
Q9

How do the two separate storylines connect in the ending

The human drama (Ángel, Alejandra, Fabián) and the alien/Veronica storyline converge when Alejandra drives the wounded Ángel to the barn. There she discovers Veronica already dead, and the creature prepares to feed on Ángel. The elderly couple and Alejandra then jointly disposeess both bodies in a pit, merging the consequences of human cruelty with the alien threat.

Foreshadowing: Both storylines build toward the barn as the inevitable meeting point, with both threads exploring themes of desire, secrecy, and destructive obsession.

  • storylines
  • converge
  • barn
  • ending
  • bodies
  • alien
Q10

What does the ending of The Untamed mean thematically

The ending conveys a relentless cycle where desire, secrecy, and violence lead to irreversible destruction. Every character who pursued forbidden pleasures or hid damaging secrets meets a fatal outcome. The alien creature represents an external force that amplifies and consumes humanity's darkest impulses, leaving no character untouched by tragedy.

Foreshadowing: The consistent tone of dread and the mounting consequences throughout the film prepare viewers for an ending with no redemption or escape.

  • ending
  • theme
  • darkness
  • desire
  • consequences
  • death
Q11

How does Ángel escape legal consequences after his arrest

Ángel's wealthy and influential parents use their resources to secure his bail by selling his house. They force him to leave town in an attempt to quiet the scandal and protect the family's reputation, allowing him to avoid further legal accountability for his actions against Fabián and Alejandra.

Foreshadowing: This intervention sets the stage for Ángel's return and final confrontation with Alejandra.

  • angel
  • parents
  • bail
  • money
  • release
  • family

Ending explained

What Happens at the End of The Untamed?

How The Untamed (2017) ends, in short: the final scene, the last twist and what it means for the characters. The full ending explained, with every spoiler, lives on its own page.

Read the full ending explained

The ending of Untamed resolves the central mystery of Lucy Cook’s death with a tragic revelation that redefines the season’s narrative. It turns out that Lucy was not murdered by a stranger or a drug dealer, but was a victim of her own father’s cowardice. Paul Souter, a respected figure in Yosemite, is exposed as Lucy’s biological father—a secret he hid by paying a family in Nevada to raise her under a different name. When Lucy returned to Yosemite to claim her identity and threatened to expose him, Paul shot her in the leg during a confrontation. While he claims he only wanted to stop her, the injury and the rejection led Lucy to fall from the edge of El Capitan in an act of despair. Paul did not kill her directly, but his lifelong abandonment and final act of aggression made her death inevitable. Unable to face the public shame or the guilt of his actions, Paul takes his own life after confessing to Kyle, completing a cycle of destruction rooted entirely in his desire to protect his reputation over his own daughter.

Beyond the mystery of Lucy’s demise, the finale provides closure for Kyle Turner and Jill Bodwin regarding the murder of Kyle’s son, Caleb. It is revealed that Jill had hired the criminal Shane Maguire to execute Caleb’s murderer, Sean Sanderson, in an act of vigilante justice. This admission highlights the moral compromises every character has made within the park's borders. Shane, who served as a drug mule and a source of danger, meets his end when Naya shoots him, effectively dismantling the immediate criminal threat within Yosemite.

Continue reading the ending (1 more paragraphs)

With the case solved and the truth about Caleb’s killer laid bare, Kyle finds the strength to leave Yosemite. He realizes that staying in the park has only kept him tethered to his grief and his past mistakes. In a symbolic gesture of letting go, he gifts Caleb’s toy cars to Naya’s son and gives her his horse, signaling that he is ready to move forward. Kyle drives away from the park, not because he has forgotten his son, but because he has finally found a measure of peace. By leaving the mountains and the ghosts of his past behind, he chooses life and hope over the endless mourning that has defined his time in Yosemite.

The Untamed ending explained in full

Movie threads

More Movies Like The Untamed, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes The Untamed tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Rural Gothic Slow Burns like The Untamed

Stories where isolation and secrets fester in remote, oppressive communities. If you liked the oppressive atmosphere and simmering secrets of The Untamed, explore more movies like it. This section features similar slow-burn thrillers and dramas set in isolated communities, where the rural setting becomes a character in itself, amplifying tension and bleak outcomes.

  • oppressive
  • eerie
  • lonely
  • tense
  • melancholic
  • claustrophobic
  • Tone: bleak, oppressive, tense
  • Pacing: slow, deliberate, atmospheric
Why these movies?

The story pattern: Narratives in this thread often center on an outsider's arrival or a long-hidden truth disrupting a seemingly quiet community. The slow pacing allows for deep immersion into the setting and characters' psyches, with conflicts arising from repressed desires, familial strife, and a confrontation with something primal or otherworldly hidden within the landscape.

Why they belong together: These movies are grouped together because they share a specific, haunting atmosphere defined by rural isolation, a slow-burn narrative structure, and themes of secrecy and moral decay. They prioritize mood over action, creating a cohesive experience of creeping unease and tragic inevitability.

Movies about Erotic Alienation like The Untamed

Films where human longing intertwines with the monstrous or alien, leading to ruin. For viewers who appreciated the fusion of raw human desire and eerie sci-fi in The Untamed, this section collects similar movies. Discover films where themes of sexual repression and loneliness collide with monstrous or alien forces, creating a unique blend of emotional drama and existential horror.

  • raw
  • harsh
  • bleak
  • tense
  • melancholic
  • eerie
  • Tone: bleak, raw, harsh
  • Pacing: slow, character-driven
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative pattern involves characters seeking transcendence or escape from their grim realities through a dangerous, non-human entity. This desire becomes a fatal obsession, blurring the lines between passion and self-destruction. The stories are structurally complex, often paralleling human emotional crises with the inhuman encounter, culminating in a bleak and inevitable collapse.

Why they belong together: These films are united by their exploration of desire through a genre lens, using sci-fi or horror concepts to metaphorically represent internal turmoil. They share a heavy emotional weight, a bleak tone, and a focus on the tragic consequences of seeking connection in the wrong places.

If you liked this

Movies Like The Untamed

Similar movies to The Untamed: the same genre, themes or kind of story. Each one comes with its own plot summary, timeline and ending explained.

Browse all movie summaries

Every angle

The Untamed (2017) Explained: Plot, Ending, Timeline & Characters

Everything about The Untamed in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning, the ending explained and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

Coming soon on iOS and Android

The Plot Explained Movie Summary App

Plot summaries, endings explained and timelines on your phone. Catch up on any movie in minutes, save your favorites and never miss a twist again.

Be the first to know when we launch. Your email stays private, always.

Learn more about the app