Readers Guide to Forget Me Not

Claire heads to her hometown of Claxton, South Carolina. In Natalie’s room, she finds a box of old photos and a roll of undeveloped film. Claire and her mom look at the photos. One is from a job Natalie had picking grapes at Galloway Farm, set on Wadamaw Island.

Claire drops the undeveloped film off and heads to Galloway Farm. A guy named Liam offers to show her around and … he mentions that he will pay her $2000 for a month of grape picking, plus free lodging. And Claire needs a job!

Claire decides to take the job, but tells her mom she’s going back home to New York.  In a drawer in the guesthouse she finds a diary from the 1980s written by a girl named Marcia. She’s just met a boy; Mitchell. These are the current owners of Galloway Island.

Marcia’s Diary

Marcia has religious Mormon parents and has to sneak out of the house to see Romeo and Juliet at the movies. This is where she meets Mitchell. He tells her went to Berkeley, but we can see that he’s a super weird guy who might be in a cult.

As Liam and Claire pick grapes, he tells her that Mitchell bought the farm in the 80s. Claire researches the property records online and learns that Mitchell bought the land in 1984 for $45,000. Before that, the Montague family owned the farm (is this a Romeo and Juliet joke?)

Claire then searches Marcia and learns that her parents, William and Jane, reported her missing in April 1984.

Marcia’s diary:

Mitchell takes Marcia to the farm. It’s inhabited by a bunch of random people that Mitchell collected.

Claire reads online articles about her sister’s disappearance. More grape picking. Claire is trying to figure out Liam’s backstory when a snake bites her. The hospital is an hour away, but Mitchell can fix her up.

Mitchell chews up leaves and puts them on Claire’s leg. Mitchell then gives her tea that makes her falls asleep. She wonders if Mitchell drugged her and if he was drugging Marcia too.

Marcia’s diary

Marcia is visiting the farm regularly. Lily tells her about a rich guy who is a farm “regular.”

When Mitchell drives to town, Claire tries to talk to Marcia, who is sound asleep. Claire searches the Galloways house and finds a duffel bag that looks like Natalie’s under some loose floorboards.

In the bag, she finds the old Berkeley sweatshirt that Marcia’s diary entry said Mitchell was wearing when they met. But this shirt has the initials KAP. Claire also finds a deed to Galloway Farm, a driver’s license belonging to Steven Montague, and a gun. She stuffs everything back in the bag (but keeps the gun) and escapes.

Claire talks to Ryan on the phone. She tells him she always felt guilty about Natalie’s disappearance. She knew that Natalie used to sneak out but she didn’t tell the police.

Marcia’s diary

Marcia and a farm resident named Lily broke into a house and stole a picture of a former farm resident named Annie, who left the farm.

There’s a storm that knocks the power out. Liam comes over with wine and asks Claire why she is here. She tells him about Natalie.

The next day, Claire recalls asking Liam why Mitchell and Marcia seem “off.”  She drives into town, which has electricity. Did Mitchell turn the island’s power off? The waitress at the diner knew Natalie. It’s her former BFF, Bethany.

Bethany says that Natalie was obsessed with Galloway Farm. Claire calls Berkeley to check on Mitchell but of course he never went there.  And in his alleged graduation year, a student disappeared: Katherine Ann Pritchard. KAP. Katherine’s camper was missing too, just like the one that Marcia described as being driven by Mitchell.

Claire goes to the Claxton police department. Eric DiNello, who investigated her sister’s case, is now the police chief.

Claire, supposedly a professional crime reporter, starts rambling about Lily and Katherine and Marcia. Then Eric drops a bombshell: people used to call Claire’s mother Annie. Is Claire’s mom the “Annie” in Marcia’s diary? Was she part of the farm cult? Also Claire’s photos are ready. But she doesn’t recognize the woman in the photos.

For some reason Claire goes back to Galloway and swaps out Marcia’s tea.

Marcia’s diary

Marcia is pregnant. A cop named Maren Gray shows up and recognizes Marcia.  Then someone shoots Maren.

Claire realizes that the woman in the film she developed must have been pictures of Maren. Because she can’t sleep, she goes out in the woods in the middle of the night to look for Katherine’s missing camper van, and finds it. She goes inside and finds a necklace.

Mitchell groomed Natalie just like he groomed Marcia, Lily, and Annie. 

Then Liam shows up. With a gun. And Claire’s tires are slashed. He locks her in the shed. She realizes that Liam is actually Marcia and Mitchell’s son. 

But Liam says that Natalie was his sister. What?

He says after Natalie started working at the farm, he brought her to the camper van in the woods to hang out and she found the diary and the roll of film.

Claire realizes that Mitchell was both Natalie and Liam’s father. Then Liam locks Claire in the shed.

Claire decides Natalie must have read Marcia’s diary and started to investigate. She tries to get out of the shed, but Liam, Marcia and Mitchell show up.

Then Claire suddenly realizes that Marcia is actually Lily pretending to be Marcia because the real Marcia had blue eyes.

They tell Claire they have to kill her with Lily’s famous poisoned drink. But Claire slashes Mitchell in the neck with garden shears.

The Ending of Forget Me Not Explained

Liam gives Mitchell’s keys to Claire and tells her to run. He locks Mitchell and Lily in the shed. 

Claire realizes that Liam didn’t know that “Marcia” wasn’t his mother. But did he know she wasn’t Marcia?

Then Claire learns that Natalie tried to go to the police, but Eric was actually Montana.

Claire calls her mom and they all drive to Draper police station, because Montana/Eric can’t be trusted.

So what actually happened?

• Lily was worried that Katherine would go back to California and that Mitchell would follow her. 
• Lily poisoned Katherine and that’s why Annie fled.
• Annie was pregnant by Mitchell but her ex-boyfriend (Claire’s father) took her back and they got married.
• As a teenager, Natalie found out that the man she thought was her father wasn’t, and went to find her real father. She got to know Liam, her half brother. She also found the diary, which is how she ended up dead.
• Jeffrey Slater is released from prison
• Claire gets together with Ryan and writes about the Galloway cult for The New York Times

What Happened to all the Victims?

• Katherine: poisoned by Lily and buried beside the barn
• Maren: shot by Lily 
• Marcia: poisoned by Lily and buried under the shed
• Natalie: poisoned by Lily and buried under the shed
• Steven Montague: killed by Lily and buried under the shed
• Mitchell: slashed in the throat by Claire with the garden shears

My Questions About Forget Me Not

I got SO confused for some reason! Help me out by answering in comments:

• Was Mitchell a cult leader or just a charismatic drifter who groomed women?
• Did Mitchell know that Annie was pregnant when she left?
• Why did it take Claire so long to read the diary? She had no cell service and spotty internet. Clearly she could have read it faster and saved herself so much trouble
• Why didn’t Annie go to the police? Because Eric was Montana? Because she felt complicit in Katherine’s death?
• Why didn’t Liam tell anyone about Natalie? Was he that afraid of Mitchell and Marcia/Lily?
• Why did Annie never tell Claire the truth once she was an adult?
• At what point did Montana leave to become a police officer? Marcia’s diary suggests that Mitchell wanted someone on the police force as insurance.