Reclaim is a Taiwanese Netflix drama film that is centred around an older-aged woman named Yeh-Lan-hsin, and her wish to retire soon. As she deals with the pressures of life, her family’s demands force her to participate in a fishy investment.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Lan-hsin is a daycare teacher, who once had a dream of studying art in Paris. She has been teaching at the daycare for over 30 years and also owns an art gallery where she displays miniature art. One day, her colleagues suggest that she sell off her art gallery for her retirement so that she can travel the world, especially in Paris.
Impressed by the idea, Lan-hsin goes back home to her husband David- a retired, grumpy man who barely does any of the house chores.
Seeing the clutter, she gets to cleaning and organising the house.
Lan-hsin wishes to bring her mother to the house and personally take care of her, as she is an 85-year-old woman with onset dementia, living in a nursing home. She discusses this idea with David and suggests that her mom can live in the spare room which was also previously her study.
As the room is all set up, Lan-hsin’s daughter: Chia ning, an architect visits her.
Lan-hsin also has a son, a PhD scholar who lives in the United States with his wife and kid.
Both the kids only approach their mother when they need something.
Chia ning reveals to have quit her job and expresses her intentions to move back home to her mother. Lan-hsin obliges and offers her the spare room that she was setting up for her mother.
While working on her designs from home with the help of her boyfriend and former colleague, Chia ning plans of starting her own business. However, she has no money and cannot afford her lifestyle.
Lan-hsin takes the initiative to help her and buy a house for her so that she can marry her boyfriend and start a family.
With several requirements like the building having a lift and good lighting, Lan-hsin goes house-hunting.
However, a house with her requirements doesn’t fit into her budget. Meanwhile, her mother starts to act out again leaving the nursing home with no choice but to keep her sedated and make her sleep for longer hours.
Upset with her failure in finding a good house that suited her family’s requirements, Lan-hsin shares her situation with a friend, who tells her about an investment advisor she works with and who has given her massive returns in the last year including a TV.
The advisor, Kuan-ting, turns out to be Lan-hsin’s student who would often come home for dinner as a child. She meets him and offers him to come home for dinner once again.
At the dinner, David enquires about Kuan-ting’s profession to which he replies that he has a small investment company that deals with stocks, funds, real estate and even insider trading.
He also introduces David to an offer which he was going to be making with a company owing to insider trading.
Kuan-ting shows Lan-hsin a house that she loves and decides to purchase it for her family so that they can all live together.
At home, her son calls her asking to book his tickets to visit Taiwan with his family. She agrees and books them immediately.
Happy with the house, Lan-hsin gets ready to put in a deposit and begins signing the agreements.
Having received intel on the company shares, Kuan-ting now required a large amount of money in a short time.
He suggests Lan-hsin put a hold on her deposit, luring her into an unreal deal in which he promises to pay her 2 million USD in 2 weeks so that she can settle the down payment of the house and claims to double her investment in the next 6 months.
Reluctant at first, she agrees to the deal. In the meantime, Chia ning begins to work on a project at her ex-boyfriend’s recommendation, while still being low on money.
Two weeks pass, and Kuan-ting duly returns the 2 million USD to Lan-hsin and even sends her a TV. However, he later becomes unreachable when she tries to call him.
A few days pass, and Lan-hsin decides to visit him in the office, there, she finds out that he has conned several people and is currently untraceable.
Having lost 6 million dollars, Lan-hsin calls her son and suggests he sell his house in the US and buy the house she likes, to live together as a family.
Her son reveals that he is already selling the house and shifting to rural Taiwan where his in-laws own some land. He takes this decision as he does not want to raise his kid in the hustle-bustle of the U.S.
He suggests he could be a farmer while continuing his field study.
Having run out of all options, a dejected Lan-hsin continues to handle her pressures. She also gets into an argument with David and plans to visit her mom soon.
Reclaim ending explained in detail:
Does Lan-hsin’s mother finally move in with her?
After the events of the investment scam, Lan-hsin is left with no major savings. She continues to provide for the family and supports her husband and daughter.
As Chia ning is still in the development stages of her independent business, she continues to stay with her parents, leaving no extra room for anybody else.
However, Lan-hsin’s mother has enough savings to support herself in the nursing home.
Though Lan-hsin was sad initially, she accepts the fact and visits her often-sedated mother regularly.
Do Lan-hsin and David reconcile after their argument?
David appears to be a changed man after Lan-hsin returns the next day post visiting her mother.
Extending an olive branch, he gets a chocolate cake for her which he believes is her favourite food. However, Lan-hsin’s favourite is a Strawberry cake.
Happy with his gesture, she cooks breakfast for the family. For the first time, David appreciates her food instead of pointing out errors in the dish.
What happens with Kuan-ting?
After pursuing Kuan-ting numerous times, Lan-hsin gives up and decides to focus on taking care of herself and finally catching a break from her hectic daily life.
While having breakfast, Chia ning reveals to a calm and composed Lan-hsin that Kuan-ting had reached out and informed her that he has another house in mind for her to see.
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