Everything, Everything

In the suburbs of Los Angeles,   eighteen-year-old Madeline Whittier lives in a  special house that has been modified to fit her   special needs. Maddy suffers from SCID, or  severe combined immunodeficiency, an immune   disorder that makes her body extremely weak,  lacking the means to fight viruses and bacteria.   It's like she's allergic to everything:  even the simplest of viruses can kill her,   and what she eats and what she touches can have  severe consequences. Common SCID has a cure,   but hers is the rare kind. This is why she isn't  allowed to leave the house. Her mother Pauline   Whittier is a doctor, so she watches Maddy's  vitals and keeps records of them. It was Pauline   the one who figured out pretty quickly that Maddy  had SCID after she got eight ear infections,   two cases of pneumonia, and failing to gain any  weight as a baby - this was lucky of her, because   most SCID patients don't make it past two years  old. Pauline's also made sure the house protects   her from everything: irradiators sterilize her  clothes, she owns one hundred white t-shirts,   and the airlock is a sealed room surrounding  the front door - it's airtight so nothing can't   leak with the door open. There's also a special  room with a giant window that shows the garden,   which has been made so Maddy can at least have  the illusion of being outside. Thankfully,   she has the internet to keep herself busy. She's  joined an online support group, and even taken an   architecture class online, so making building  models is a hobby of hers. Whenever she builds   something new, she puts a little astronaut inside  because that's how she feels: like an astronaut   stranded in space. She also exercises and reads  a lot, and then she posts reviews of the books.   Since her father and brother died when she  was a baby, when Pauline is out working,   a nurse called Carla takes care of Maddy. She  and her daughter Rosa are the only people Maddy   is allowed to hang out with, and because Carla  has been working with them for fifteen years,   Maddy sometimes feels like she's trapped there  with her. One morning, Maddy hears some noises   outside and when she looks through the window,  she notices a new family has moved in next door.   The teenage son, Oliver Bright, sees her and says  hi to her, which is the first social interaction   Maddy has had with a stranger in ages. Today  is also her birthday, so Pauline takes the   day off to spend it with her. They eat cake, play  phonetic scrabble, and watch a Nicolas Cage movie   that they need to pause when someone rings the  doorbell. It's Olly and his sister Kayra Bright,   who have brought a bundt cake their mom made. It's  a tradition of hers to send one to the neighbors   whenever they move, and while Pauline can't accept  it, she does welcome them to the neighborhood.   Olly asks about his daughter, but to protect  her, Pauline tells him she isn't around.   Maddy has heard all this on the intercom,  so as soon as they leave, she goes to the   window to watch the siblings go back home  and accidentally drop the cake to the ground,   breaking the plate. A moment later, Olly  appears by his own window and waves his hand,   a gesture Maddy returns. The next day, Maddy hears  noises outside again, and discovers Olly is doing   it on purpose to get her attention. He starts  putting up a little play for her at his window:   while wearing all black, he pushes the bundt  cake off the window sill as if murdering it,   then it appears resting next to a couple of  pill bottles, and the final act is the cake   connected to a fake IV with Olly pretending to be  a priest that is giving it the parting blessings.   Maddy finds it all hilarious, so when Olly  writes his phone number on the window,   she doesn't hesitate to text him. Since then, the  two teenagers begin texting each other every day,   chitchatting about anything and everything.  They learn a lot about each other, like the   fact Olly is from New York, he wishes to move  back, and his favorite person is his sister.   Maddy however, doesn't tell him she's sick  until she can't dodge the subject any longer,   but Olly promises her he doesn't feel sorry  for her. Since they can't meet in person,   Olly asks her to come to the window and  describe her eye color, after which he   calls her beautiful. Days later, Carla finds  out about Maddy's growing friendship with Olly.   She had already suspected when she noticed  her looking so many times through the window,   and confirms it when Maddy badly lies about what  she's looking at on her laptop. She asks Carla if   Olly could visit sometime, promising to make him  follow all protocols, but she refuses. That night,   Rosa visits her and Maddy tells her a bit about  Olly. Rosa comments how things are finally getting   interesting for Maddy and she won't get to see it  because she'll be leaving for college in the fall.   One evening, Olly shows up in front of the giant  garden window and connects his phone to Maddy's   wireless speaker to make it play "Heartbeats" by  José Gonzalez. The two of them make their hands   meet on the glass, and Maddy can't help imagining  what it would be like to kiss him. The next day,   she applies online for a credit card that she uses  to get a new sweater that isn't freaking white.   When her mother sees her wear it sometime  later, Maddy tells her she got it from Rosa.   A few days later, Carla has a surprise for Maddy:  she's allowed Olly to enter the house, and she'll   let Maddy see him as long as she promises  they'll stay on opposite sides of the room.   After changing into nicer clothes, Maddy goes  to meet him, feeling rather awkward at first but   slowly easing into casual conversation. When Olly  asks her where she would go if she could leave,   she chooses the ocean, because it's only three  miles away from her house yet she never got to   see it. They don't really stay too far from each  other: the more they talk, the closer they come;   and Olly is so nervous that he ends up tossing his  rubber bracelet against the wall. When Carla comes   to tell them their time is over, she makes sure  to know they haven't touched and once Olly leaves,   she teases Maddy for the yearning expression  on her face. Maddy wants Olly to visit again,   and Carla decides they can try again after a  week, when they're sure Maddy is ok from today's   encounter. Maddy keeps herself busy posting  reviews while Olly is away on a vacation.   She does still call him however, to invite him  to come over for Fourth of July so they can watch   the fireworks together - it's the perfect chance  because it's Carla's day off and Pauline suddenly   got assigned double shift at the hospital, so  Olly accepts. When the day comes, they start   the evening by chatting on opposite sides of the  room, and Maddy is surprised to hear how much Olly   knows about math because he had mentioned being in  summer school. Olly explains that's only because   his dad moves around a lot, and that Maddy makes  him want to stay in Los Angeles. Tired of all   the distance between them, she comes closer to  Olly and at first she tells him they should stay   friends, but eventually she gives in and they kiss  while the fireworks begin appearing in the sky.   When Olly returns to his place, he still calls  Maddy to make sure she's feeling okay, and she   promises she's perfect. Sometime later, Maddy  discovers something very upsetting when looking   through the window: Olly and his father are  arguing on the street and his dad begins beating   him up. Worried, Maddy rushes out of the house  to check on him and this worries Olly in return,   who begs her to return to the house for her own  safety. Their meeting is interrupted by Pauline,   who grabs her daughter without a word and takes  her back inside, where she scolds her for being so   reckless over a stranger. When Maddy makes a face,  Pauline realizes he actually isn't a stranger, not   believing her daughter when she says they've only  talked online. When night falls and she's calmed   down a little, Pauline goes to talk to Maddy, who  apologizes for what happened. Pauline expresses   sympathy for Olly's situation and offers to send  someone to check on him, but Maddy turns her down,   saying Olly doesn't want anyone to know and he's  only protecting his mother. Seeing as his daughter   really likes this guy, Pauline asks Maddy to  tell her more about Olly, so Maddy comments   on all the things she likes about him and how  good he makes her feel about herself. Pauline   is happy for her but for the sake of her life, she  reminds her that they can't see each other again,   taking out the rubber bracelet she found in  the other room when Maddy tries to deny it.   The next day, Pauline fires Carla for having  allowed Olly inside, ignoring Maddy's request   to let her stay. Right after Carla leaves, Maddy  throws up and begins having a fever, so Pauline   gives her some medicine and makes her stay in bed  all day, leaving her without phone and internet.   Some hours later, when she starts to feel a little  better, she goes to the window and sees Olly, who   quickly understands they can't text. So instead,  he begins writing messages on pieces of paper   that he puts on his window for her to read. After  making sure she's fine, he writes that he's sorry,   but Maddy replies she is not. The following day,  Maddy meets her new nurse, an older woman that is   extremely strict and leaves notes all around the  house with dumb inspirational quotes or reminders   of the rules, like having limited internet  access from now on which will also be monitored.   Maddy tells Pauline that she misses Carla because  she was her friend, but Pauline reminds her she   was just a nurse and she shouldn't have gotten  attached. She thinks the same applies to Olly:   one day she'll find another girl who isn't stuck  in her house and will forget all about Maddy. It   hurts Maddy to hear this, but the more she thinks  about it, the more she can't stop imagining Olly   with another girl and realizes her mom is right:  he'll be happier with someone healthy, and Maddy   is just setting herself up for heartbreak.  She sends Olly a message saying they can't be   together anymore because she's ruining his life.  Olly tries to call her but she won't pick up,   so he sends various texts to convince her not  to break up with him, but she won't give in.   While Olly says he doesn't want to lose her, Maddy  thinks there's nothing to lose because she can't   even leave the house. However, the next day,  she wakes up to find the huge window downstairs   covered with pictures of the ocean and a note from  Olly that says every ocean deserves to be seen   by her. Touched by the gesture, Maddy decides  it's time to take matters into her own hands.   She writes a letter for her mother, telling  her how much she loves her and thanking her   for everything she did for her, since it was  thanks to Pauline that she's survived this long,   but it's no longer enough. She isn't doing  this for Olly, she's doing this for herself,   because if she doesn't go now she'll never know  what it is like to be truly alive. After leaving   the letter by her bed for Pauline to find and  packing her bag, Maddy goes outside, getting   shocked by the feeling of warmth the sun leaves on  her face. Once the initial sensations calm down,   she goes to the house next door and asks Olly to  come out through a text, kissing him as soon as   he shows up. She then lies to Olly and tells her  she's been doing gene therapy, which she hadn't   mentioned before not to get his hopes up. She  says it seems it's working, but her mom is still   worried, so she's running away to test it because  she will never truly know if she stays inside.   Using the credit card she applied for weeks ago,  she bought two tickets to Hawaii and invites Olly   to come with her, and he of course accepts.  After packing a bag of his own and calling his   sister to tell her to take care of their mother  and not to tell anyone of what they're doing,   Olly drives them to the airport. Maddy is a bit  scared of traveling by car at first even if it   isn't going too fast, but once she gets used to  it, she asks Olly to go faster. Moments later,   while they're boarding the plane and flying  to Hawaii, Pauline finds the letter and calls   the police. She also sees Kayra on the street  and tries to get some information out of her,   but Kayra says she has no idea where the couple  may be, protecting her brother as he requested.   Once they arrive in Hawaii, they stay in the same  cabin Maddy's family used to rent when she was a   baby, so after leaving their things there,  they go shopping for a swimsuit for Maddy.   They spend the whole day at the beach so Maddy  gets to know the ocean and learn from Olly how to   swim and play games in the water. They also get a  pair of scuba masks and snorkels to go diving and   watch all the beautiful fish in the area, jump off  some high rocks into the ocean which is scary but   also very exciting, and end the day watching the  sunset together. When they go back to the cabin,   Maddy mentions she misses her brother and  father, which she finds weird because she doesn't   remember them. Olly tells him it isn't weird and  finally tells her why he's moved around so much:   his father isn't very good at keeping jobs. He  doesn't understand why his mom won't leave him,   Olly told her to do so many times but his mom  only said that he'd understand when he gets older   and that love makes people crazy. Maddy agrees,  accidentally revealing she's in love with Olly,   so he takes the chance to tell her he loves her  too. When they go to bed some hours later, they   make love. The following morning, Maddy realizes  she isn't feeling well and she's burning up with   fever. Olly calls an ambulance and she's taken  to the hospital, where she could feel her heart   stopping as she dreams of Olly being away from  her and trying to reach her. When she wakes up,   Olly is gone and she's back in her house with her  mom. When Pauline finally leaves her alone, Maddy   grabs her computer and chats with Olly, who is  incredibly worried about her. She apologizes for   putting him through all this and breaks up with  him for good this time, claiming she's tired and   she can't do this anymore. Olly thinks his life is  better with her in it, but Maddy says hers isn't,   causing a hurt Olly to say he lied and he does  feel sorry for her before logging out. Days later,   since Maddy has learned her lesson in the toughest  way possible and won't be repeating it soon,   Pauline accepts to leave her alone while she works  instead of hiring another nurse. She goes back to   her usual routine and ignores an e-mail from Olly  until one night, she sees him leave with his mom,   Kayra, and some bags. Maddy goes looking for  his e-mail then and discovers it's a goodbye   letter because Olly is moving back to New York,  doing it in the middle of the night while their   father is out drinking so they can finally  leave him behind. Another few days pass, and   Maddy is surprised to get a call from his doctor  from Hawaii that informs her of her lab results:   she only had a virus infection that only got a  bit serious because she has a weak immune system.   Maddy tries to explain she has SCID, but the  doctor doesn't believe it because if that   was the case, the virus would've caused a much  worse effect on her. Shocked by this revelation,   Maddy starts looking through all of her  mother's files but doesn't find anything   that confirms the diagnosis, so she confronts  Pauline about it when she comes back from work.   Pauline swears she must have the papers  that confirm she has SCID somewhere,   and it's at that moment that Maddy realizes her  mother suffers from Munchausen syndrome by proxy,   a condition in which a caregiver creates the  appearance of health problems in another person.   Crying her hear out, Maddy runs away, not  listening to Pauline when she begs her to come   back inside. For the following days, Maddy stays  with Carla and Rosa. She also goes to see a doctor   to get a proper diagnosis and this doctor confirms  she doesn't have SCID, just an underdeveloped   immune system from under-exposure due to living  in filtered air her whole life. One afternoon,   Pauline shows up at Carla's with some of Maddy's  things and tells her what happened when she was   a baby. Shortly after her brother and father died,  she got very sick and the doctors didn't know why.   Thinking it could be allergies, they gave  Pauline a list of things to keep Maddy away from,   which developed into an obsession when combined  with her fear of losing her like she lost her   husband and son. She apologizes to Maddy and  hugs her before leaving. Some days later, Carla   goes to see Pauline and convinces her to open the  house's windows to finally allow real air inside.   Maddy however, has trouble forgiving her. She  understands her mother has gone through a lot   but she can't stop thinking about all the  things she's missed in over fifteen years.   She decides to fly to New York, and once there,  she sends Olly a message, asking him to meet her   at the Olde Book Shoppe. She's nervous because  she thinks he may not show up at all, but as   soon as she arrives at the bookstore, she finds  Olly waiting for her. After asking him to start   over and pretend this is their first meeting, the  couple kiss and leave the store holding hands.