Love at First Sight is a romantic comedy that narrates the tale of two people who meet at the airport and fall in love during their flight from New York to London. However, they lose sight of each other after landing, and the strings of fate weave something special to bring them together.
It is an adaptation of the 2013 novel, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by author Jennifer E. Smith and is now streaming on Netflix.
Plot summary
Love at First Sight opens at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, where Hadley Sullivan (Haley Lu Richardson) misses her flight to London by four minutes. She books the next one scheduled 90 minutes later and runs into a young British man named Oliver Jones (Ben Hardy).
The two hit it off immediately and grab a meal together. Hadley is shown to be someone who is usually late and never has a charged battery in her phone. On the contrary, Oliver is a student at Yale who doesn’t like surprises and functions mostly on statistics and probability.
Hadley is flying to London to attend her dad’s second wedding. He divorced her mom a year ago when he moved to the UK to teach poetry at the University of Oxford. She still has some residual negative feelings towards him and finds it difficult to process them.
Oliver’s reasons for flying back home aren’t revealed yet. As they board the plane, Oliver is moved to the seat next to Hadley’s due to a seatbelt issue.
During the flight, their spark starts turning into love, and they share a lot of personal details except contact information. They almost kiss at one point but are interrupted by another passenger.
After landing at Heathrow, Oliver types his number on Hadley’s phone before they are separated at customs but her phone dies before she can save it.
Disheartened, she takes a cab to the wedding venue in Shoreditch and sees her dad after a year. The ceremony is beautiful and her new stepmom Charlotte is adorable too.
Hadley heads to the bar to grab a drink and overhears some guests talking about attending a memorial service in Peckham before the reception.
As she listens closer, Hadley realizes that the people are talking about Oliver and a memorial service for his mother, whose cancer returned after 14 years in remission. She finally understands why Oliver flew back to London and decides to go see him.
Love at First Sight ending explained in detail:
Is Oliver’s mom dead?
We then switch to Oliver’s perspective after he gets separated from Hadley at the airport. He waits for her as his brother Luther comes to pick him up.
They leave seconds before Hadley steps out. We see them put on costumes from Shakespeare’s plays and enter the venue for the service. It is revealed that his mother is still alive but on the verge of death as she isn’t taking cancer treatment.
His parents, who are seasoned theatre performers, have organized a Shakespeare-themed memorial service to allow loved ones to bid farewell to his mother.
Oliver is unhappy that his mom isn’t taking treatment, but she explains that chemotherapy will only delay her inevitable death and cause her to suffer. She wants to pass away on a happy note.
Does Hadley find Oliver?
Hadley gets on a bus and makes her way to Peckham. Her phone dies again, forcing her to ask for directions, and she finally makes her way to the service.
Hadley is pleasantly surprised that Oliver’s mom is still alive but understands the unique concept of the memorial. She talks to his brother Luther, meets his parents, and finally sees the man she came looking for.
They spend some time together, and Oliver is visibly disturbed by his mother’s condition. He tries kissing Hadley but she doesn’t reciprocate, stating that Oliver has a lot going on in his life and needs to let it out first.
Oliver is slightly offended and exclaims that he doesn’t want to share every personal detail with a girl he just met on a plane. Hadley is hurt, and Oliver regrets his words immediately.
However, she departs, and Oliver is called in to make his speech. Luckily, Hadley forgets her bag behind.
Do Hadley and Oliver end up together?
Oliver makes a heartfelt speech and doesn’t use numbers or statistics to express his feelings for his mother. Elsewhere, Hadley is lost and calls her dad after borrowing someone’s phone to come get her.
He comes to pick her up, putting the reception on hold. They have a heartfelt conversation, and Hadley forgives her dad for divorcing her mom. She also admits liking Charlotte and expresses her elation at her dad’s happiness.
Oliver’s family teases him about Hadley and encourages him to pursue her. He throws out another unfavourable statistic but his father explains that even if he knew his mom would die of cancer, he still wouldn’t change a thing from the past.
This inspires Oliver, and he asks Luther for a lift to Greenwich. He finds the address to the reception on the invitation inside Hadley’s bag. Meanwhile, Hadley, her dad, and Charlotte head to the reception and dance their hearts out.
Oliver finally makes it to the venue and finds the woman he almost let go. He explains that he is always so calculated because he hates getting caught off guard by painful things like illnesses and heartbreaks.
Hadley smiles and kisses him. The film ends with the narrator explaining that the two will get married and have a daughter. They will be together for 58 years and live a fulfilling life.
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