KINDRED

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film starts with a woman named Charlotte (Tamara Lawrance) waking up to meet her boyfriend Ben (Edward Holcroft) in the kitchen. They are preparing to meet Ben’s mother Margaret (Fiona Shaw), as they have news for her, but Ben fears that his mother will not handle it well and end up resenting him.

The couple goes to Margaret’s home where she lives with her stepson Thomas (Jack Lowden). Charlotte and Ben tell Margaret that they are planning to move to Florida. She is predictably upset about it, but Ben is adamant that their minds are made up. Later, Charlotte goes with a friend, Jane (Chloe Pirrie), to the stables to do work, but Charlotte starts to get dizzy until she throws up.

Jane brings Charlotte to the hospital where Charlotte learns that she is pregnant. She is shocked and considers not keeping the baby, but Dr. Richards (Anton Lesser) suggests she go home and talk it over with Ben. That night, Ben reveals he knows about the pregnancy since Dr. Richards told Margaret and she relayed it to Ben, who is excited about the prospect of being a dad. Charlotte, however, is still unhappy about it. The couple returns to Margaret’s home, where she says that they ought to get married as soon as possible. Ben says they are still set on Australia, but Margaret refuses to believe that they will take her grandchild away from her.

They go back home where Charlotte smoked a joint with Jane and gripes about the thought of being a mom. Ben returns and goes to the stable to feed their horse Bonnie. Moments later, Bonnie kicks Ben hard in the head, leaving him in critical condition. Charlotte and Jane carry Ben into the car, where he starts to lose consciousness. They are joined by Margaret and Thomas at the hospital, where the doctor brings them the tragic news that Ben has died. Margaret blames Charlotte, who responds by attacking her until Thomas gets her off, all while Margaret weeps over the loss of her son. As Charlotte walks away, she faints.

Charlotte wakes up in Margaret’s home. She and Thomas are tending to her, keeping her fed and housed. Margaret also reveals that Charlotte and Ben’s house has been sold, leaving Charlotte with no choice but to stay with Ben’s family. Margaret later holds Ben’s funeral on the grounds of the estate. She chats with Thomas while he plays the piano, but after he leaves, Charlotte shuts her eyes briefly and appears to wake up later, alone in the darkness and seeing strange images, like a recurring image of a crow.

During her time at the house, Charlotte continues to have more weird dreams and has little memory of whether or not she was conscious for what she saw. For instance, she wakes up with a cut on her hand that she doesn’t remember experiencing. When Jane visits, Charlotte tells her that Dr. Richards has been checking on her pregnancy and says she doesn’t need scans, which causes Jane concern. Charlotte eventually decides to go to the hospital anyway, accompanied by Thomas. After the scan, Charlotte asks Thomas to get her water, but she tells the ultrasound technician that thinks that Margaret and Thomas are keeping her against her will, having broken her phone and possibly drugging her tea to make her hallucinate. The technician comes back with Dr. Richards, who thinks she is just suffering from some kind of pregnancy-related hysteria and just advises her to go back home.

Charlotte continues to spend months in the house. As she nears the end of her pregnancy, Margaret goes into her room to speak to her. She tells her how she hated being pregnant, but she grew to love Ben deeply, recounting a story about how they had a dog who bit him as a child, and the great panic she felt in that moment. Meanwhile, Thomas appears to be trying to make advances toward Charlotte, which she is disturbed by.

Margaret locks all the doors in the house to prevent Charlotte from going out in an attempt to keep the unborn child out of harm’s way. Later at night, Charlotte attempts an escape that evening by grabbing their keys and a phone. Thomas sees and tries to pursue on foot, nearly getting her after she just barely makes it out and locks the gate behind her. Charlotte calls Jane to go get her. She falls asleep in the field and is found by Jane, but she ends up driving Charlotte back to Margaret’s home, where she and Thomas are waiting for her.

Charlotte later shares a meal with Thomas and asks him why he stays in the house if Margaret is not his biological mother. He tells her how his father was an abusive drunk, and how he actually killed him to protect Margaret since he saw her as more of a parent than him. He justifies it as not being an outright murder, but self-defense. Thomas makes more unwanted advances, even suggesting he can help raise the baby like a father. When Margaret returns home, she argues with Charlotte, who tells her that Ben hated her and wanted nothing more than to get away with her. Charlotte tries to lure Margaret toward her with a concealed knife, but Margaret won’t go near her.

The next morning, Charlotte appears to be bleeding from her pregnancy. Thomas calls for Dr. Richards, but after he arrives, Charlotte seizes the opportunity to steal Thomas’s car and flee the estate herself. She cut her hand and smeared the blood on her blouse as a ruse. Charlotte laughs in victory until she starts to hallucinate a murder of crows flying toward her, causing her to crash her car.

Charlotte wakes up in the hospital to find that the baby is gone. A nurse tells her that the baby is fine and healthy, and is with “his father”. Thomas enters holding the baby, and although Charlotte tries to beg the nurse to not believe him, Thomas convinces everyone that he is the father and calmly assures Charlotte the baby will be fine, even as she starts crying for help. Thomas brings the baby home, where he and Margaret have set up his nursery.

A woman named Charlotte plans to move with her boyfriend Ben to Australia, which Ben's mother Margaret is not happy about. After Charlotte learns she is pregnant, Ben is killed in a freak accident when a horse kicks him in the face.

Charlotte is soon forced to stay with Margaret and her stepson Thomas, who attempts to be friendly with Charlotte but makes unwanted advances toward her. Margaret does everything she can to control what happens with the baby, caring little for what Charlotte needs. Charlotte makes one attempt to escape with help from her friend Jane, but she just brings Charlotte back to the house. On Charlotte's second attempt, she makes it out of the estate but crashes.

Charlotte wakes up to find the baby has been born, but Thomas tricked the staff into thinking he is the father, leaving Charlotte's baby doomed to stay with him and Margaret. and Margaret.