High Water tells the story of scientists and the local government of Wrocław as they come face-to-face with the most destructive flood in the history of Poland. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
On May 25, 1997, the government office of Wrocław receives a fax from an individual named Miss J. Tremer, warning that a possible flood might be on its way to the city.
The officials took a look at the dry weather and ignored the report until six weeks later when the predictions made in the report turned out to be true.
Acting Province Governor, Jakub Marczak, picked up Jasmina Tremer, the hydrologist who sent those reports, to join the team of scientists that are tackling this situation in Wrocław.
Tremer points out the outdated plans, which Professor Jan Nowak, the head of the hydrogeology department, is relying upon. She believed they can’t be trusted, resulting in an argument during the meeting.
Before leaving, Tremer offers Marczak a solution that will involve blowing up the flood banks of Domaniewo. Tremer later realizes that the map Marczak’s team gave her is outdated as well. Thus, blowing up Domaniewo won’t help.
After inspecting the house of Andrzej Rebacz, a resident of Kęty, Tremer comes across another flood bank that they can get rid of in order to save the city.
Amidst all of this, Jasmina Tremer and Jakub Marczak lock horns over their past relationship and how Tremer has stayed away from her daughter, Klara, and her mother for all these years.
High Water ending explained in detail:
How government failed to stop the flood?
The government was all set to destroy the flood banks of Kęty, which might’ve cost the people of Kęty their homes, but it could’ve saved Wrocław.
The media leak about this decision, which Jakub Marczak suspects got through the deputy minister, became a problem.
In order to save their village, the people of Kęty, led by Andrzej Rebacz, stood together against the government. They stopped them from blowing up the flood bank.
The people of the village were sure that the government officials would never come to their aid once they lose everything. The government fought hard, but in the end, they had to back out.
The people of Kęty celebrated their win over the government by saving their flood bank, but the people of Wrocław now had to survive the biggest disaster in the country’s history.
Does Klara find out about her mother?
Jakub Marczak’s daughter, Klara, always thought that her mother abandoned her. But when she met Jasmina Tremer, she formed an instant connection with her and doubted that she knows her mother.
Eventually, through some old photographs, she finds out that her father and Tremer were definitely once a couple.
During a walk with her dog, Klara is caught in the flood. When Marczak and Tremer find out about the same, they go looking for her. Tremer reunites with Klara at a hideout.
On their way back to the government office, Klara continues to question Tremer about her mother, although she somewhere knows it’s her. Tremer continues to avoid it until they reunite with Marczak.
He urges Tremer to stay with them for a few days. The next day, Klara confronts the lies of her father. Tremer stops Klara from going all out on her father and comes clean that this was all her idea.
Tremer was a drug addict and instead of opting to be a bad mother, she left her daughter in the hands of her father, Marczak.
Though she abandoned her daughter all her life, Tremer reconciled with Klara and wanted her to come and visit her from time to time.
Before completely leaving, Tremer also paid a visit to her mother, whom she met after ages.
Tremer, not only saved her mother’s life by convincing her to move upstairs during the flood but also introduced her to her granddaughter. Thus, fixing all her past mistakes.
What happens to Andrzej Rebacz’s father during the flood?
After stopping the government from blowing up the flood banks of Kęty, Rebacz became a hero in his village. He knew his father would have done the same if he was there.
Rebacz’s father was sick and in a hospital that became a victim of the flood.
Many of the patients were shifted to another place, but the doctor couldn’t send all of them, including Rebacz’s father, whose condition was severe, and traveling would only mean that he would lose his life.
Rebacz later heard a message left by Dr. Gora asking him to come to the hospital. Rebacz, along with his son, Adas, left and traveled through the flood of Wrocław.
By the time they arrived, Rebacz’s father had passed away. The doctor directed them to a slaughterhouse, but Adas didn’t want that for his grandfather.
Therefore, the father-son duo rowed back home and began preparing for a proper funeral.
Where do Tremer, Marczak and Rebacz end up?
By July, the water levels came down and the people of Wrocław started getting back on their feet. Ten months later, Tremer, and Marczak were summoned to the Provincial Government Office to give their statements.
During these ten months, Marczak tried running for the office, while Tremer got pregnant with a baby she had with her boyfriend, Van Hoek.
Rebcaz, on the other hand, was arrested for firing a flare at a government helicopter while trying to defend the flood banks of Kęty.
During this flood, 56 people died, while 40,000 people lost everything they had. The damage was estimated at 12 billion PLN, and the event became the second biggest disaster Poland ever faced after the Second World War.
Also Read: Santo ending explained: Who is Santo?