Sea Change: the ending, explained – Who is Miranda?

Sea Change is a slow-paced thriller based on the novel by Aimee Friedman that left many viewers searching for answers at the end. The film revolves around the life of Miranda who comes to a mysterious island off the coast of Maine after her father’s passing away. Unknown to the hidden secrets that the island carries about Seawalkers, (half sea, half-human creatures) Miranda attempts to find the truth. 

The ending, however, had most viewers disappointed and in search of more answers. 

A teenager is killed on the island 

The opening scene of the film starts with an unknown diver exploring the ocean when something attacks her. The girl comes up to the sea bed to scream for help, but gets submerged again and is killed.

The film then pans to Miranda (Emily Rudd), a teenager on her way to the island to live with her mother Amelia (Maria Dizzia) after her father passed away. She strikes up a conversation with a boy called TJ (Keenan Tracey) and he invites her to a party happening on the island. 

During the party, TJ’s father who is also a legal counsel asks his girlfriend Ginny (Siobhan Williams) about the whereabouts of Kit Morgan after she didn’t report to the dock master. Kit was Ginny’s cousin, and she was a professional diver searching for ancient artefacts in the sea. 

Later in the day, Miranda goes out for a run to the beach and she starts hearing some strange voices before being cut off by Leo (Skyler Maxon), a local fisherman. Leo tells her to leave and he disappears. 

The victim’s body is identified as Kit Morgan

Miranda learns from her friend Cece that Leo and TJ have a history. Leo’s mother used to be a house cleaner at TJ’s house, and they were very close before his mother passed away. Some argument had happened, and Leo hasn’t arrived for his mother’s funeral, sparking a cold war between the two. 

TJ arrives with his friend Bobby while Miranda is talking with Leo and they almost fight before Miranda intervenes. Just then, the body of the girl who was killed at the start is brought to the dock. The girl happens to be kit, Ginny’s cousin. 

That night at another party, Amelia reveals that every year someone dies while diving or surfing. Amelia also asks TJ’s father about the death report, but he assures her all secrets are buried within and will never come up. Amelia isn’t impressed. 

“Its not enough, I lost my daughter once, I’m not going to lose her again,” she says.

Meanwhile, in a bid to find out the truth, Miranda and the gang goes skinny dipping. TJ offers Miranda a surfboard because she can’t swim. 

Miranda drowns but gets rescued by Leo

While on the surfboard in the sea, Miranda loses control and falls into the water, but she sees Leo while drowning. Just then her body sends a mysterious green pulse through to the ocean and Leo takes her to the shore before disappearing again.

Meanwhile, Leo is mad with her sister Naomi about what happened to Kit. Naomi’s friend explains that it needed to happen to keep them all safe and Leo reluctantly agrees. Leo instructs Naomi to deal with Kit’s body. 

Ginny goes to the police station to identify Kit’s body. The body is revealed to her with scratch marks on her face and Ginny runs to the toilet to throw up. She then sees smoke and realises Kit’s scarred body is burnt and the whole police station is on fire. 

Ginny screams and Miranda hears her call for help and rescues Ginny. However, the police don’t believe Ginny’s story of someone causing the fire. 

More facts about the Seawalkers are revealed

Miranda asks Amelia about the seawalkers, and she reveals that the seawalkers are half human and half sea creatures who only can remain on land for a short time. Amelia also reveals every night, the seawalkers get a call to the ocean and they are forced to return to the tides. 

However, the call can be avoided if a seawalker takes the breath of human lungs, also known as the seawalker’s kiss. The person who gets the kiss is believed to be dead after the kiss. 

The next morning, Leo gets a cut on his hand while mending a fishing net, but the cut magically disappears once he dipped his hand into the sea. Miranda meets Leo to thank him for saving her the other night and tells him that she saw his glowing eyes during the rescue.

Miranda jumps to the water again to see Leo’s scars, but they don’t appear this time. She also reveals that her father had a disliking of the water, which is why she didn’t come to the island again. 

Meanwhile, TJ’s father meets Amelia and tells her that the matter at the police station is dealt with. 

Secrets about Miranda’s past are revealed 

The next day Ginny thanks Miranda for saving her but says that she doesn’t belong here, making TJ break up with Ginny.  

Meanwhile, Naomi confronts Leo about protecting Miranda and says that he should’ve let her drown. Leo says that Miranda could be their only hope of saving themselves, but Naomi doesn’t buy it and magically attacks Leo.

TJ reveals that Miranda’s mother had tried to kill her when she was a baby, making her dad leave the island with her. Miranda confronts Amelia and asks her why she tried to kill her. But Amelia declines to answer. 

Naomi goes to Miranda’s house but is cut short by Leo. Leo tells Naomi to get back to the sea before getting attacked by TJ and Bobby. 

While packing her bags to escape the island, Miranda reads Amelia’s diary which reveals that seawalkers are real and Miranda’s dad had to take her away to protect her. The diary reveals that Miranda too is a sea walker. 

What happened to Miranda?

TJ comes to see Miranda and tells her that they attacked Leo. Miranda runs to find him severely beaten up, but Leo tells Miranda to get him into the water, but not to touch the water afraid that he would hurt her. 

Miranda says that she knows Leo would never hurt her and kisses him inside the water. But Leo suddenly grabs Miranda’s throat and sucks her breath from her lungs. 

She is then attacked from inside the water by an unknown force similar to Kit’s attack. Just then Amelia arrives and saves Miranda, ending the film.