Bear

Sam eats dinner alone, feeling unsettled. Later, she spots someone walking and runs outside: It’s Danny, walking his dog. She tells him that the bear was near their home again, and Danny offers to lend his dog to Sam to deter the bear. Their talk turns to Elena, and Sam confesses that she’s fearful of Elena walking to and from work. Danny reassures her that things will be okay.

Just before three o’clock the next morning, Elena wakes Sam: Their mother has died.

In their mother’s room, Elena explains that she went to check on her and found her dead. Sam wonders if they should call 911 or inform their mother’s doctor. She has a brief memory of their mother bringing store-bought cupcakes to their elementary school classrooms for their birthdays and wonders when her mother stopped doing this.

Sam reaches out to touch her mother and finds, as Elena said, that her body is cold. Elena cries, lamenting that they should have been present for their mother’s death.

That day, Elena immediately begins making phone calls. Sam realizes that her mother must have instructed Elena on what to do. Sam numbly washes the dishes that her mother used and launders her sheets.

A few days later, Elena returns to work, despite Sam’s protestations. Sam finds a half-eaten lasagna on their doorstep and blames the bear. When Elena returns home that night, she says that she has arranged a small ceremony for their mother at the golf course on Saturday. The sisters argue when Sam insists that her mother wouldn’t have wanted such a gathering.

On Friday, the sisters spread their mother’s ashes. Sam can’t quite believe that the cremains are their mother’s body.

Elena asks Sam when she plans to return to work and, when Sam shrugs off the question, emphasizes that they need the money. Sam asks how soon they can put the house up for sale, and Elena is confused, saying that she has no plans to sell the house or move off the island. This confuses Sam, who reminds Elena about the many times they discussed this plan. Elena replies that she’s sorry if she misled Sam with her talk of teenage dreams. She reveals that she took out a second mortgage on the house to cover the cost of their mother’s care and that if they tried to sell it now, the bank would merely repossess it, leaving them homeless.

On the day of the memorial, Sam returns to work. She thinks about when they were trying to obtain an exact diagnosis for their mother and visited a specialist. At the time, Sam assumed that her mother’s illness would be a brief one, like a 48-hour flu bug.

Ben stops by the concession stand and gives his condolences. Sam responds coldly, though he tries to convey that he truly cares about her and her family.

At the memorial service that evening, Sam speaks with former teachers and coworkers. Some of the medical staff have come, along with neighbors, including the Larsens. Sam weaves through the crowd, catching pieces of their small talk. When she hears talk of the bear, she pauses, realizing that the speaker is Agent Petitt.

Sam approaches Petitt and asks why she came. Petitt explains that she was working at a farm nearby, and the owners informed her of Sam’s mother’s death and suggested that she offer condolences. She offers to leave, and Sam begins to cry for the first time since her mother’s death. Petitt tries to comfort her but then changes the subject to the bear, instructing Sam to stop leaving food for it. Sam is confused and then realizes that Petitt thinks that Sam has been baiting the bear. Sam asks her to leave.

She watches Agent Petitt make her way to the exit to ensure that Elena doesn’t see her. Then, she spots Elena, watching a guest who just arrived: their mother’s former boyfriend.

Sam recalls the days after the boyfriend had moved out, when she feared seeing him on the island and kept a constant vigil, watching for him. Elena assured her that they would never see him again, even though the island was small.

When Sam catches Danny’s eye, he makes his way to the boyfriend. Danny places a hand on his shoulder and speaks with him, and then the two walk outside. Sam is amazed at how easily Danny convinces the man to leave. Relieved, she tells Elena that the boyfriend is more terrifying than the bear, which angers Elena.

Sam tries to speak to Elena, but she refuses, retreating to the bathroom alone. Sam sits alone outside for a long time until Danny approaches. They talk about Sam’s mother, and conversation turns to the ex-boyfriend. Sam is confused about how Danny knew to ask him to leave; Danny says that he could see the distress on both Sam’s and Elena’s faces. He then slowly reveals to Sam that he and Elena are dating. Sam initially doesn’t believe him but then considers the things that Danny knows about her family—and Elena’s whereabouts on her nightly walks—and it begins to make sense.

Elena is with Kristine when Sam approaches to say that she’s leaving. The two argue about this, and the argument escalates. Sam reveals that she knows about Elena’s relationship with Danny and feels betrayed that Elena has given up on their plan to leave the island. Elena feels that Sam takes her for granted and expects her to bear the brunt of the financial burden. Elena insists that she never truly wanted to leave the island.

Sam walks home from the golf club alone, mulling over her relationship with her sister. Throughout their time in school, even though Elena was not deemed uncool and strange like Sam was, the sisters stuck together. Elena was occasionally drawn away from Sam by boys who proved to be mere flings but always returned to her. Sam, angry at how Danny and the bear have pulled Elena away from her, vows to bring her back again.

As she continues walking, Sam encounters the bear. She throws a stick at it, yelling at it to leave her and Elena alone. The bear retreats.

Sam works a double shift the next day. Between customers, she emails Agent Petitt, informing her that Elena is the one feeding the bear and asking Petitt to see that the bear is removed. Ben approaches and asks about the memorial. When he invites Sam to move to Oregon with him to work on a hemp farm, she refuses.

Agent Petitt replies, explaining that Elena could be jailed for her actions. She asks Elena and Sam to meet her in Washington, offering to fly them there. Angered by the thought of Elena being jailed, Sam fires off a terse and angry response, telling Petitt to leave them alone.

When Sam returns home from work that night, Elena informs her that the sheriff visited and issued her a fine of $500 for feeding wildlife. Sam tries to explain that her motivation was to help Elena, but Elena orders her to move out.

Sam texts Danny, asking for his gun and, as he offered, to borrow his dog. Danny has learned of the sheriff’s visit. Initially, he insists that he doesn’t want to become involved, as it would mean going against Elena’s wishes, but Sam quickly convinces him that Elena’s preoccupation with the bear is dangerous.

Sam and Danny meet up to walk to the edge of the woods together. Sam wants to hold the gun, but Danny is unsure whether this is wise, given that Sam hasn’t held a gun before, even though the safety is on. When they reach the woods’ edge, Sam tells Danny that they may need to wait for some time, but before long, they hear Elena calling out for the bear.

Elena appears with bread for the bear but immediately sees Danny and Sam and demands to know why they are there. The bear appears, and Sam orders Danny to shoot. When he doesn’t, Sam takes the gun from him. She presses the trigger, and the bear lunges toward her.

Sam witnesses the bear attack and kill Elena.

Danny, as the owner of the gun, is charged with reckless endangerment, but the Larsens’ lawyer gets the charges dropped. Sam learns that the state euthanized the bear. She receives word from Agent Petitt that the bear was a grizzly, not a black bear as they assumed. She sends Sam some dirt from the spot where Elena died, which she notes is an Indigenous American tradition.

At work, Ben tries to comfort Sam, but she’s inconsolable.

Sam takes her car aboard the ferry, heading for Oregon with Ben. She has some of Elena’s things and some of her cremains, having left the rest on the island. As she travels through the channel, Sam imagines a fairy-tale scenario in which the bear is a loving beast whom Elena marries and then the sisters live together forever.