A QUIET PLACE: Day One
*CUT TO THE CHASE*NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy
The film opens in New York at a hospice for cancer patients. One of the patients, Sam (Lupita Nyong’o), is in a group circle and shares a written piece where she basically says the whole place is terrible. Her only companion is her cat, Frodo, but one of the care workers, Reuben (Alex Wolff), tries to be a friend to Sam.
Reuben brings Sam and other patients into the city for an outing, with Sam wanting to get pizza from a specific location. They watch a children’s puppet show, which Sam seems to enjoy at first but quickly gets upset when something unfortunate happens during the show. Sam starts to make her way out of the theater with Frodo when Reuben tells her they need to start heading back to the hospice. She gets more upset when Reuben insists they need to go back immediately and cannot get pizza like he promised. When Reuben says he is just trying to be a friend, Sam coldly says they aren’t friends before she boards the bus.
Sam then notices the other patients huddled in the back of the bus as they see and hear something happening outside. Military troops begin to arrive as meteors start falling from the sky. Soon, alien monsters begin terrorizing the city and attacking civilians. In the midst of the chaos, Sam gets thrown against a wall and is knocked unconscious.
Sam wakes up (with Frodo) in a shelter along with Reuben, plus Henri (Djimon Hounsou) and other survivors. Sam embraces Reuben before overhearing the military broadcasting a message for everyone to stay put, which also draws the aliens away from civilians. Sam tries to catch up with Frodo, who accidentally brushes past a bell and attracts an alien. It bursts through the doors but Sam avoids detection.
Reuben tries to come up with a plan to get back to the hospice, but Sam is intent on going to Harlem to get pizza from Patsy’s. Outside on the roof, Sam, Reuben, and Henri witness as the military bombs bridges, preventing any way in and out of the city. One survivor starts to freak out, and while Henri tries to calm him down, he almost yells loud enough to draw attention, and Henri slams his head against a wall, killing him.
A backup generator goes off and starts making noise. Reuben runs to shut it off, but while he succeeds, his shirt gets caught on something and rips. The noise is enough to lure an alien, which kills Reuben quickly, to Sam’s horror.
In the morning, Sam takes Frodo and starts heading to Harlem. On the way, she sees two kids and gives them her candy. They overhear the military announcing that boats on the south side of the city are taking survivors since the creatures cannot swim. Sam walks in the opposite direction of the crowd heading towards the boats, but the size of the crowd brings the aliens down, causing another frenzy. Sam nearly gets trampled before hiding under a car, but she nearly gets crushed under it before getting to safety.
Frodo runs off to get water, where he encounters another survivor named Eric (Joseph Quinn), an English law student who is traumatized by what is going on. He follows Frodo back to Sam. They start walking as it begins to rain heavily, which allows them to speak quietly. Sam tells Eric to go to the boats, but he ends up going with Sam back to her apartment for her pain meds. Eric finds a book of poetry Sam wrote, while also learning that Sam’s dad used to play the piano. While the lightning and thunder strike, the two let out cathartic screams.
The next day, Sam goes back on her mission, begrudgingly allowing Eric to tag along. She ends up making noise, forcing them to run as the aliens get closer. They get chased through a building but Eric manages to draw them away after throwing a rock through a car and triggering the alarm. Sam and Eric make their way into the subway tunnels and walk through the sewers. They must outrun another alien before making their way out, but Sam loses consciousness.
Eric revives Sam in a church where they hide out. While Sam rests, Eric goes out to find her medication, with Frodo reappearing. They walk past aliens without getting caught, and Eric makes it back to Sam. She tells him about how her father used to take her to Patsy’s for pizza after he would play piano at a nearby jazz club.
When they wake up the following day, Sam and Eric walk to Harlem but find that Patsy’s has burned down. They walk to the jazz club, and Eric goes out to find pizza from another place, but writes “Patsy’s” on the box. He then entertains Sam by dancing and doing a card trick for her, which genuinely impresses her.
Sam and Eric then see boats nearby, and they start heading in that direction. Sam gives Eric her jacket and tells him to run after she grabs a crowbar and begins smashing car windows. The aliens start running toward her, giving Eric and Frodo a chance to get toward the boats. Eric accidentally kicks a can, bringing the aliens his way, but he manages to jump into the water and get to the boats, with Henri and others pulling him and Frodo aboard. Eric then looks in the pocket and finds a note from Sam, telling him to take care of Frodo and to thank him for helping her and showing her to live one last time.
Sam walks through the empty streets of Harlem. Knowing she will die soon either way, Sam takes out her headphones to loudly play her music. She smiles, just as a creature comes down behind her.
The film is a prequel of the first days of the alien invasion that forced the world to go quiet.
Sam is a terminally ill cancer patient on a trip to the city with other patients from her hospice on the day that the aliens come down. She joins her nurse friend Reuben and other survivors, but she is intent on going to Harlem with her cat Frodo to have pizza from Patsy's one last time before she dies. The military bombs bridges to get in and out of the city.
Boats start to take survivors to safety, but Sam gets separated from Frodo during a frenzy when the aliens attack people heading toward the boats. Frodo is found by Eric, an English law student who joins a reluctant Sam on her quest. They outrun more aliens while Eric also helps get medication for Sam. They later end up in Harlem but find that Patsy's is burned down. Eric finds pizza from another place and cheers Sam up.
The two see other boats nearby, and Sam creates a distraction to allow Eric and Frodo to get to the boat. Eric succeeds and finds a note from Sam, thanking him for being with her in her final days. Meanwhile, Sam roams the empty streets and plays music to draw an alien near her, accepting her fate.