The Girl on the Train

Rachel Watson's eyes fixated on the house as her train rumbles down the tracks, weaving past industrial buildings and fields before reaching the picturesque suburban town. It's a tranquil scene, one that brings a fleeting sense of respite from her tormented mind. The familiar routine – wake up, take a train, and commute – had become her only source of comfort since her divorce a year ago. Yet, on this particular morning, the monotony of her commute is disrupted by her gaze upon the seemingly idyllic home of a couple she has grown accustomed to observing. The wife, Megan Hipwell, and her husband, Scott Hipwell, exude perfection from afar. They often appear blissfully in love, laughing and holding hands as Rachel watches from her window seat. Her imagination, however, runs wild with a manufactured narrative of their lives. In Rachel's fantasized world, Megan and Scott are having a torrid affair or are secretly wealthy. Her keen observation turns into infatuation, as if their lives are her soap opera. When her train briefly stops at a station, she even tries to pinpoint their house – 2415 Glenview Drive – in the hope of getting a glimpse of the perfect couple. On a particularly gloomy morning, as Rachel is absorbed in her routine of daydreaming about the Hipwells, she witnesses a shocking event that changes everything. The window suddenly smashes, and a disheveled Megan can be seen stomping away from the house. The vision leaves Rachel stunned and conflicted, torn between staying in her sanitized fantasy and uncovering the truth behind the disturbing scene. She begins to revisit her interactions with Megan amidst her own shattered past, slowly intertwining the two narratives in her mind. That same evening, Rachel visits a nearby bar, Harry's, and decides to approach Megan's neighbor, Anna Watson – to whom she earlier mistakenly assumed to be the wife due to being overly entrenched in her fantasized world of Megan. The anxiety surrounding the mystery of Megan and Rachel's curiosity brings her back into the bar, this time with Anna, where a lengthy conversation begins. As conversation progresses, their encounter somehow morphs from helping unravel the mystery of Megan's departed state, into detailing and narrating more of Rachel's stories. In a subtle process of vulnerability, Rachel learns that Anna's empathetic personality and genuine attempt to listen create a sense of trust, although cautiously trusting an outsider is new for Rachel. She begins to unreservedly open up to Anna about her love for Glenview Drive, her daily train routines, divorced relationships, and lastly, what she has witnessed as Megan's exit from her home that day. With the encouragement of Anna, Rachel quickly discovers that her misperceptions had been a facade, and an inquiry regarding Megan's whereabouts starts to crystallize in Rachel's eyes. She remembers Megan disappearing and reappears on a platform a ways from the residential area, and before being formally seen making her way to the nearby country resort, Foxwood Manor. In the weeks to come as she closely watches Megan – under strict police protocols, eventually followed by a cop partnered of her own – it slowly becomes evident that Megan is now a missing person herself. After the departure of Megan's seemingly perfect life, Rachel can no longer settle into the comfortable routine of fantasizing. When an unlikely convergence offers Rachel insight into a potential connection, the unlikely relationship within Megan's complex past finally unravels, shedding light on a person she came to admire merely for being the perfect facade to hide the truth.