‘Night Always Comes’ Ending Explained: The Meaning Behind Vanessa Kirby’s Netflix Movie

The new Vanessa Kirby Netflix movie, Night Always Comes—which began streaming on Netflix today—is a bleak portrayal of the economic crisis in America right now. For those living paycheck to paycheck, the film plays out like a living nightmare of just how close so many Americans are to becoming homeless.

Based on the 2021 novel The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin, the film adaptation was directed by Benjamin Caron, with a screenplay written by Sarah Conradt. Kirby, who is also a producer on the film, stars as Lynette, a woman desperate to raise $25,000 in just one night, or else she and her family will be evicted from their home.

Also starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zack Gottsagen, Stephen James, Randall Park, Julia Fox, Michael Kelly, and Eli Roth, Night Always Comes is a harrowing portrayal of economic instability. It doesn’t come with a happy ending, so if you were left wondering what the point of it all is after you finish the movie, read on for a breakdown of the Night Always Comes plot summary and Night Always Comes ending explained, including the Night Always Comes meaning.

Night Always Comes movie plot summary:

Lynette (Vanessa Kirby) works multiple jobs to make ends meet. She has a plan to purchase the home that her family rents with her mom Doreen (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and her developmentally disabled brother Kenny (Zack Gottsagen). She needs her mom to meet the owner at the bank so they can co-sign a loan, and put down a $25,000 down payment.

But Doreen doesn’t show up. Instead, she uses the $25,000 to purchase a new car. Doreen claims it’s her money to do what she wants with it, and it’s Lynette’s own fault that she isn’t able to keep a job. Doreen implies that Lynette has anger issues and is prone to violent outbursts. Lynette claims she isn’t like that anymore.

Lynette is desperate to make this deal work. The owner is offering the house to her at $40,000 under the asking price. However, they have another buyer offering more money. The owner tells Lynette if she can’t get him the $25,000 by the next morning at 9am, the deal is off. So, Lynette decides to spend all night trying to get $25,000.

It’s revealed that Lynette does work as an escort, and she asks her wealthy client Scott (Randall Park) to loan her the money. Scott laughs in her face, but still wants to have sex. He pays her $1000 as a “parting gift,” declaring the relationship over. Lynette swipes Scott’s car keys and steals his Mercedes. But she panics, and abandons the car.

Next, Lynette visits her friend Gloria (Julia Fox), who is also an escort, and owes her three grand. After pestering, Gloria opens the safe of her client, another wealthy businessman, and gives Lynette $500. Gloria leaves to go meet her client, and tells Lynette to lock up when she leaves. Lynette attempts to open the safe with an electronic code, but it locks after three failed attempts. Lynette begs her coworker from the bar, Cody (Stephan James) for help. She heard he did time for theft. Cody reluctantly agrees to help Lynette break into the safe for $800.

Cody and Lynette bring the safe to a sketchy guy who breaks into it with a sledgehammer. Inside, they find $19,000 in cash and two big packs of cocaine. The sketchy guy is pissed at Lynette for dragging him into some kind of drug crime scheme, and attacks Cody and Lynette. They manage to escape. Lynette tells Cody that she only needs $4000 more, and she’ll be able to get her house. After he learns about the Mercedes, Cody says he can get Lynette $4,000 if she gets him the Mercedes. They pick up Kenny, and drive to where Lynette left the Mercedes.

The Mercedes is still there, to Cody’s shock. It turns out he never had $4000 to give to Lynette, and is upset at her for a) not paying him the $800 she owed him and b) trying to offload a stolen Mercedes on him. He demands half the money from the safe, and then, when Lynette refuses, takes the whole bag of money and runs. But Lynette doesn’t let him get away—she hits Cody with her car. She doesn’t kill him, but she does knock him out, and takes the bag of money back. She leaves the keys for the stolen Mercedes with him.

But Lynette still needs $4K. She pays a visit to an older man named Tommy (Michael Kelly). It comes out that she was in a romantic relationship with Tommy when she was 16, which turned into a sex-trafficking situation in which Tommy pimped her out as a sex worker. No wonder Lynette had anger issues—she was traumatized.

Using this as leverage, Lynette tries to sell the coke to Tommy for the remaining $4,000. He finds a buyer willing to pay $3,000. He gives Lynette the address, on the condition she never contacts him again.

Lynette goes to the address, where a really creepy guy (Eli Roth) gives her the $4,000 but then tries to force her to have sex with him. Lynette escapes, but falls on a glass coffee table in the process. She finally goes back home, where her mom, Doreen, helps her pick the glass out of her back.

Night Always Comes movie ending explained:

Lynette begs Doreen to come co-sign the loan with her, but Doreen refuses, saying she doesn’t want to own or live in this house anymore, with all of its bad memories. Lynette realizes Doreen never intended to co-sign the loan with her. All that she went through to get the money was for nothing.

Doreen confirms that she was never going to co-sign the loan, but didn’t want Lynette “screaming and freaking out.” Lynette realizes that her mother doesn’t want to live with her anymore. Lynette tells her mom she is going to take Kenny, but Doreen shuts that down by telling Lynette Kenny is afraid of her. She reminds Lynette of the “adventure” she took her brother on the night before, and Lynette realizes her mother is right. Doreen also reminds Lynette that she took care of Kenny full-time when Lynette ran away at 16 to be with Tommy.

Lynette is furious at her mother for trying to blame her for getting trafficked at 16, and for not being there for her then and now. However, she realizes that Doreen will be there for her brother in a way that she wasn’t there for Lynette.

Doreen reveals she made plans for her and Kenny to move in with a friend. Lynette isn’t invited. Lynette gets a voicemail from the homeowner saying he changed his mind and went with the other buyer, meaning even if Doreen had co-signed the loan, they would not have gotten the house. Lynette says a heartfelt goodbye to her brother. She leaves a letter for her mother, and cash for her friend Gloria, presumably giving back the money that she stole from Gloria’s client’s safe.

In the letter to her mother, Lynette writes that she does not regret fighting for her family, and thanks Doreen for saying what she needed to hear in order to fight for herself. Lynette drives away, finally ready to focus on living her own life rather than trying to keep her family together. With that, the movie ends.

While it’s bleak that Lynette suffered so much only to lose the house and her family, it’s also hopeful that she realized she could no longer fight a losing battle. Hopefully, Lynette will be able to build a life for herself, and Doreen will take care of Kenny, as she promised.

Night Always Comes movie meaning:

Personally, I interpret the Night Always Comes ending as a rebuff of the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mantra of the American Dream. No one can argue Lynette didn’t try everything she possibly could to make a better life for her family. But in the end, her best efforts still weren’t enough. As depressing as that is, at the end of the movie, Lynette finally lets go of the idea that if she works enough—if she suffers enough—she will achieve financial stability. In other words, she is finally free from this lie. But hey, that’s just my two cents. If you have a different interpretation, let me know in the comments.