Readers Guide for Salt Water

• The Lingates (Marcus and his wife Naomi, Richard and his daughter Helen, Helen’s boyfriend Freddy, and Marcus’s assistant Lorna) gather at the villa in Capri.
• Someone sends a box to the Lingate villa with a necklace that used to belong to Sarah.

• Helen is angry that her father stole a trust fund that her mother left her and wants Lorna to help her get revenge (and money from her family) so she can escape .

• Lorna has her own grift going. She’s cheating with Freddie, Helen’s boyfriend and is not overly fond of the Lingates.

• Lorna and Helen decide to band together to blackmail her father and uncle.

In 1992: Sarah wrote a new play that seems based on the Wingate family. The play was called Saltwater, and both Marcus and Richard are unhappy.

• After Lorna’s disappearance, Helen searches Lorna’s room for clues. She finds a pregnancy test. Under the boxspring, she finds the first 90 pages of her mother‘s play.

• Stan tells Helen that he thinks her family did something to Lorna. And he seems to be right: Lorna’s body is discovered in the sea.

Part Two

• In 2022, Sarah Wingate’s case is reopened.

In 1992 Sarah tells Marcus that she wants to divorce Richard quietly. We also learn that Marcus and Sarah were having an affair, and that Marcus is Helen‘s father.

• Ciro and Helen discuss what happened to the blackmail money that Lorna picked up. Helen discovers her mother’s necklace is gone.

• The police come to notify the family about Lorna’s death. The family’s official story is that Lorna was transporting some blackmail money for them and something must’ve happened to her. The police mentioned that Sarah’s case has been reopened. Richard is not happy.

• Ciro calls Helen and says that her father has been sitting on the edge of the cliff for two hours. She goes to him and Richard says Sarah’s death is his fault.

Back in the 90s, Richard tells Sarah it is impossible for them to divorce. He pulls on the necklace she’s wearing. They start a physical fight.

• In the present, Ciro takes Helen to his house. She asks Renata what happened to her mother. Renata says the Lingates lie to everyone and never get caught.

• Marcus says they’re all going to a party on a private island

• The police come with a picture of Lorna walking with a man. They said she was pregnant.

• Freddie admits he slept with Lorna a few times and thinks the baby could be his. Helen believes him when he says he didn’t kill Lorna. But then Freddy is very upset when Helen tells him about Ciro.

• Naomi shows Helen the check that Marcus wrote to Lorna. She thinks Lorna’s baby belongs to Marcus. She said this is the second time Marcus did that. She also says Richard did not kill Sarah.

Salt Water Ending Explained: What Happened to Sarah?

In the 1990s: Marcus finds Sarah injured. She does not seem to know what happened, but starts starts yelling for help. 

• Helen arrives at a family party on Li Galli, a private island. She wears a red dress and has brought a copy of Saltburn. Helen pulls it out and asks her father if he’s read it. Did he know Marcus was her father? Did he really kill Sarah or did Marcus?

• Richard says he couldn’t allow a divorce because he didn’t want his financial information under scrutiny. Also the Lingates had no money to pay Sarah. When Helen’s grandfather died, they learned that everything was a lie. They’ve all been living off Naomi’s money. What???

• Richard insists he pushed Sarah and she hit her head. He says he is positive she was dead and that Marcus helped carry the body and then offered to stage a suicide off the cliff. 

• Helen realizes her father had no idea about Sarah and Marcus’s affair.

Back in 1992, Marcus and Naomi contemplate what to do with an injured Sarah. She tells him she knows about their affair. If Marcus doesn’t make sure Sarah is dead, Naomi will stop giving the family money.

• Richard comes calling, and Marcus disappears. Sarah gets up and Naomi pushes her off the cliff from behind.

• Marcus had written Lorna a check in exchange for the play.

Something Bad Happens to Marcus

• Marcus and Richard start yelling and a man comes over to intervene. Richard pushes him out of the way and the man falls into Marcus, who loses his balance, and falls off the cliff.

• Richard is arrested. Helen is upset that they aren’t questioning Naomi about Sarah’s death, but they say they will.

• Richard wants to plead guilty. He has left whatever money he has left to Helen.

• The  police think Marcus killed Lorna to keep their affair quiet.

• Naomi suggests to Helen that she told Marcus to kill Lorna or else.

• Naomi, who is drinking heavily, asks Helen refill her glass. Helen spikes Naomi’s vodka with pills, and Naomi passes out and then stops breathing.

• More vagueness: Helen is named the sole beneficiary of Naomi’s estate. Huh? Was Helen Marcus’s heir? Would Naomi really have such a terrible will? She’s rich.

• Renata tells her about the necklace. Her mother knew it was fake, but she loved it. 

Salt Water: Twist One

Okay, buckle up because some VERY odd (and convenient) stuff happens here. I’m all for a good 80s soap opera feel, though!

1992: Renata

Renata has just arrived from Northern Italy with her three year old son Ciro to work for the Lingates.

One night, Renata sees Sarah lying in the garden. She tries to help Sarah get up. Coincidentally, they are both wearing red dresses. (Well, I see where this is going….)

Renata asks Sarah who did this to her and Sarah says “all of them.” She asks Sarah if she can make it to the house.

Renata then finds Sarah’s wedding ring and engagement ring and puts them on. (Oh, right. Sarah’s rings have been loose. I guess no one’s red dress has pockets?)

Then, right at that most convenient moment when Lady in Red #1 has disappeared, Naomi sneaks up and shoves Lady in Red #2 (poor Renata) off the cliff.

So… instead of Sarah reporting her entire awful family to the authorities, she decided to become Renata for the rest of her natural life.

What???? Apparently three year-old Ciro kind of shrugged and accepted this completely new mother. I remember my kids when they were three and I call BS on this. Also, Sarah was stuck on Capri because Renata was poor and had no passport. (But she could travel within Italy and probably within Europe, no?)

Epilogue:

Ciro and Helen have a baby. Helen has apparently adjusted to the fact that 1) her uncle is actually her father, 2) her aunt murdered her mother and 3) Helen then murdered her aunt.

Helen seems most disturbed by the death of Lorna, whom she keeps thinking she sees.

Twist Two:

Lorna is alive too? What even?

Lorna took the blackmail money and then threw some other random girl over the side of the boat? A girl who looked like her and conveniently could not swim.

So Marcus really didn’t kill Lorna (or anyone).

What????