Turtles All the Way Down (2024) is based on the John Green novel of the same name and revolves around Aza Holmes, a girl with OCD. The film is streaming on Max.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary:
Aza Holmes is a 16-year-old with OCD and is prone to thought spirals. She has an intense fear of bacteria which impedes her chances of living a normal life.
She lost her father when she was younger and her relationship with her mother is alright, although she does worry about Aza a lot.
When billionaire Russell Davis Pickett goes missing, a reward of one hundred thousand dollars is offered to anyone with information.
Aza’s best friend Daisy suggests that they go after it because Aza knows Davis from when they went to grief camp together.
Aza had just lost her father and Davis had lost his mother and they got to know each other during that summer.
Aza says that Davis got a motion camera as a birthday gift and it was set up on their property so it might have some clues.
Daisy and Aza sneak onto the Pickett property and eventually find the camera, but a security guard catches them and takes them to the house.
Davis still remembers Aza and spends some time talking to her before they leave. Daisy tells Aza that Davis is into her and that she should ask him out.
They also find a picture of Russell in the camera roll, leaving in the dead of night with a coat and a duffel bag.
Aza asks Daisy if they can meet again and he says yes. Their friend Mychal asks Daisy out and they turn it into a double date at Applebees after which Davis invites them over to his house.
Davis gives Aza a tour of his house and talks to her about what’s on her mind. She also talks about her aspirations of going to Northwestern University in Chicago.
She wants to learn under Professor Lucia Abbott who teaches philosophy there because Aza is obsessed with her lessons.
Professor Abbott’s lectures cover topics about self-identity and free will, things that Aza struggles with because of her OCD.
Davis hopes that Aza didn’t reach out to him because of the prize money and she says that it was originally Daisy’s idea and it wasn’t a big priority for her.
He says he has a solution to the problem and gives her a box of Pop-Tarts and asks her to open it at home.
When she looks into the box at home, it has one hundred thousand dollars in it. Davis says she can split it with Daisy, and with the prize money out of the way, they can see if what they have is real.
Daisy buys a new car with some of the money even though Aza assumed they would be saving up for college.
Mychal’s artwork is being shown at an art show hosted in the underground tunnels and Daisy invites Aza even though that location isn’t the most ideal for her condition.
Aza begins texting and spending time with Davis, and he asks her if she can skip school one day so that he can take her somewhere special.
He flies her out to Chicago so that she can attend one of Professor Abbott’s lectures. She even meets her afterward and gets some life-changing advice from her idol.
Aza is so thrilled that she kisses Davis, something she has always been terrified about because of the bacteria involved.
During the plane ride home, her thoughts get the better of her and she goes into a panic thought spiral.
She goes back home and gets into an argument with her mother for skipping school. She tells her mother that Davis believes in her and is probably the only person who does.
Daisy writes Star Wars fan fiction and once it reaches one hundred thousand readers, Aza decides to check it out.
She sees that Daisy has based it on her life and there is also a character based on Aza that Daisy complains about often.
Aza begins ignoring Davis and Daisy until Daisy asks her for a ride one day.
Ending explained:
A fateful ride
Aza reveals that she read Daisy’s fan fiction and sarcastically apologizes for being “too much”.
Daisy says that Aza’s condition is not something to be made fun of, but it does make her self-centered and proves it by asking Aza questions about her personal life.
Aza doesn’t know any of the answers and they argue intensely until Aza gets distracted at the wheel and gets hit by another car.
Aza is devasted that car was ruined because it was her father’s car and she still has strong feelings about his death that she never processed.
Building it back up
Aza is taken to the hospital with a lacerated liver and some internal bleeding while Daisy gets away with a few stitches.
Being in a hospital freaks Aza out because she is worried about getting a bacterial infection. She has a mental breakdown and has to be sedated.
Her stomach is pumped and her mother calls her therapist who insists that Aza have more regular meetings and consistently take her medication.
Davis sends a bouquet to the hospital and she asks him if they can meet once she is feeling better.
They meet at Applebees but Aza is still spiraling so she tells him that while she is feeling better, she isn’t well enough to date him.
He says that he prefers being liked up close and they end things.
A bountiful life
Even though things ended with Davis, Aza doesn’t want to give up on her friendship with Daisy.
She goes to the art exhibition at the tunnels and apologizes to Daisy. They walk around until the reach the mouth of the river where they find Russell’s coat.
Aza remembers that Davis’ brother showed her some names scribbled down by Russell before he left and one of them was “jogger’s mouth” which is where they are.
The jacket has a suicide note inside and Aza goes to break the news to Davis herself.
2 months later, life is slightly better for Aza and the people close to her. Davis shows up with a painting from his mansion that Aza loved.
He gifts it to her and tells her that he and his brother are moving to a different state for a fresh start.
They connect over the times that they shared and have an emotional goodbye. Then Aza and Daisy sit under the stars and discuss their futures.
Aza asks if she’ll ever get to have a normal life. Daisy is confident that Aza will have all the ups and downs that people have, but she will never be alone for any of it.
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