The Abandons Ending Explained: Who Survives the Fire?

In Netflix’s ‘The Abandons,’ a war erupts between two factions in the town of Angel’s Ridge in the mid-1800s, as both parties fight for control over a valuable piece of land. On the one side is Constance Van Ness, the matriarch of a wealthy and influential family that basically runs the town. She wants the land for its promise of silver. On the other side is Fiona Nolan, the matriarch of a family of misfits, brought together under different and difficult circumstances. She refuses to give up the land where she and three other families have built their homes and lives. In the midst of this, the death of Constance’s son adds fuel to the fire that threatens to consume the entire town. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Abandons Plot Synopsis

The year is 1845, and the small town of Angel’s Ridge is on the precipice of a change. Constance Van Ness and her family have run the town for many years, and being the wealthiest and most influential ones around, it falls on them to make sure the town is on the path of progress and development. The problem is that his progress and development can only come if they succeed in getting the lands owned by four families, one of whom is Fiona Nolan and her children, who live on a ranch called the Abandons. As things get direr for Constance, she goes from trying to appease them with a deal to terrorising them by getting their cattle to jump off the cliff. Meanwhile, Constance’s son Willem has an eye for Fiona’s adopted daughter, Dahlia. After she makes a snide comment at him in the market, he gets drunk and shows up at her house late at night with the intent to rape her.

Around the same time, Fiona and two of the other three families are in the midst of deciding how to protect their land. When Dahlia’s siblings, Albert and Lilla, and their neighbor, Samara, arrive to help, Willem talks about how he cannot be harmed because he is a Van Ness. This does not stop Dahlia from stabbing him with a pitchfork. By the time Fiona and the others show up, Willem is already fighting for his life. When all the others go away, Fiona kills Willem rather than taking him to the doctor and finding a way to keep him alive. She decides to protect her daughter at all costs, but the challenge soon rears its head when Constance shows up at her house the next day, asking about her son’s disappearance.

Who Comes Out of the Fire: Constance or Fiona?

In the end, the conflict between Constance and Fiona comes to a head, as all the secrets are unraveled, most important of which is the truth about Willem’s death. In her desire for revenge, Constance has Dahlia kidnapped, which lures Fiona to her house, but the latter has a plan to get out of the situation, or at least get her daughter out of it. The plan works as intended as Fiona’s other children hide in the shadows while she bides her time to find and get Dahlia out of the way. As soon as Dahlia is in front of Fiona, an attack is mounted by the Abandons who surround the Van Ness place. They not only kill Constance’s people, especially with the skills of Samara’s father, but they also send a burning wagon into the house. When the house catches on fire, Constance’s first instinct is to head inside. She doesn’t go in for Willem’s dead body, and the other two children are also not in the house. However, the house does have the safe, which contains all the documents that Constance needs to keep her family afloat and alive.

Without them, the Van Ness family will lose everything, and that’s something she cannot allow to happen. When Constance runs inside, Fiona has all her children beside her, alive and well, though a bit injured. Still, Fiona knows that as long as Constance is alive, her family will never truly be safe. Moreover, she needs her revenge for the way Constance treated Dahlia, almost killing her. She doesn’t see Willem’s death as a crime because he was killed due to his own actions. Dahlia is the one who suffered at his hands, and to keep her safe in the future, Fiona knows that Constance Van Ness must die. So, she too runs inside the burning house and finds her enemy trying to get to the safe. A fight breaks out between them, with both women intent on killing each other. It is not about land anymore; it is about family, and both have a bone to pick with one another.

At first, it seems that Fiona has the upper hand, but things take a turn as Constance fights for her life. By the end, we find both women lying on the floor as the house burns around them. Later, a figure is seen coming towards the door. It’s a silhouette and too far away to discern who is coming out. It cannot be confirmed whether it is Constance or Fiona because both were seen in the same condition the last time. And this ambiguity is intentional. Having set up the entire stage in the course of seven episodes, the audience knows everything there is to know about the conflict. While initially, Fiona and her family may appear to be the good guys, this perception slowly changes as we discover that there is more to the Van Ness family than villainy. With all the cards on the table, it is up to the audience to decide who they want to come out of the fire. More importantly, who they think deserves to survive and, in a way, win this war.

How Does Constance Discover the Truth About Willem?

While the conflict between Constance and Fiona existed for a long time, it isn’t until after Willem’s death that things escalate the way they do in the show. Fiona does everything in her power to protect her children, even killing the priest who had been a very good friend to her. Eventually, however, the truth was bound to come to light, and it was only a matter of who would break and reveal the truth. In the end, it turns out to be Samara. Despite the conflict between her people and the Van Nesses, she develops a strange bond with Garrett Van Ness, especially after she hears his eulogy for Willem. He, too, reciprocates those feelings in some way, but that does not stop him from digging into her father’s past and using it to push them into giving up their land.

Garrett makes the offer to Samara in the hopes that she will convince her father. However, her father tells her that the Van Ness family will not stop here. Because once they get the land, it will only be a matter of time before they find Willem’s dead body, and then, all hell will break loose. Samara realises that the shadow of Willem’s death will keep haunting them until someone comes clean, and she decides to be the one to do it. She hopes that in return for this information, the Van Ness family will show them mercy, particularly because she and her father didn’t really have anything to do with it. So, she walks into Garrett’s office, who is recuperating from the wound he sustained when Dahlia stabbed him in the market.

Samara puts all the cards in front of him, and as soon as Garrett discovers where his brother’s body is, he immediately leaves to retrieve it. It is not difficult for him to find the dog’s grave as Sweetie’s owner has dug up the dog’s body, just as he did his wife and children’s, because he knew that it would be dug out once the Van Nesses get their hands on the land and start mining. Garrett gets Willem’s body, and he brings him home. At the same time, he also updates his mother about everything, who is heartbroken now that her son is confirmed dead. Before this, he was simply missing, and she hoped that he would still be alive. She even wondered if Fiona’s family had anything to do with it, but she couldn’t point out exactly how they were connected to it. Now, however, everything is clearly in front of her, and she itches for revenge.

What Happens to Dahlia?

According to Samara’s story, Dahlia made the fatal stab that claimed Willem’s life, so for Garrett and Constance, Dahlia is the main perpetrator. When Constance discovers the truth, she has Dahlia abducted from her home and brought to her. She is angry at the girl, but she is not going to kill her so easily. She knows that the entire family, especially Fiona, was aware of it, and they lied to her face, time and again, even when Constance acknowledged her crimes against Fiona and her people and asked her to come clean as well. In some ways, she feels betrayed and humiliated, and she wants Fiona to experience the same pain she did with losing Willem, though she believes that the love she has for her son is deeper and more meaningful because he was her son by blood, while Fiona’s children are adopted.

Still, a child is a child, and Constance will have her revenge. As soon as Fiona discovers her daughter has been taken, she makes her way to the Van Ness house. However, she knows that going alone and unprepared will not help her or Dahlia, so she devises a plan. While she talks to Constance and finds Dahlia, her people, including her other children, will attack the Van Ness house. As expected, when Fiona comes face-to-face with Constance, she shows no signs of mercy. She has kept Dahlia alive so far, so that Fiona could watch her die in front of her eyes. She stabs Dahlia in her leg and then her stomach, but before she can make a final blow, the house is attacked. In the end, Dahlia, though injured, is still alive, and while she will take some time to recover from her wounds, it seems that she will survive the ordeal.

What Happens to Trisha and Garrett?

While Fiona’s children pick up the pieces of violence and heartbreak around them, Constance’s children don’t fare any better either. Discovering that her mother and brother are complicit in murder and treachery, Trisha decides to come clean about their crimes. To stop her, Constance drugs her and plans to send her away. However, Trisha finds a way to escape her room. Before she can escape the house, she crosses paths with her mother, who tells her the truth about Willem. What shocks Trisha even more is that Elias knew about it all along. He not only helped bury her brother’s body, but he also entangled her in a romance, which distanced her from her family.

When she walks into town to confront him, he accepts everything, but tells her that her brother was a monster and he would do anything to protect his sister. Trisha is heartbroken to discover that Elias is nothing like she imagined him to be. He is immersed in just as many lies and as much violence as her family, which gives her a sense of directionlessness. The last we see of her is her walking away from Elias, who discovers Dahlia has been taken by Constance’s people, and she does not appear to be in a good state. Meanwhile, Garrett is also processing the latest discovery about Willem.

He is not only saddened to find out about his brother’s death, but he is also angry at Fiona and her children and wants revenge. After telling his mother the truth, he disappears for a bit, most likely planning his next step, as his desire to take over the land is even stronger now. In his absence, Dahlia is kidnapped, and chaos erupts. By the time he comes back, his house is on fire, and he has no idea whether his mother survived or not. Now, the reins of his family are in his hands, and he must carry forward the burden of revenge and bloodshed. But with the Van Ness house fallen, he will have to take his time to rebuild and go back to the position where he can fight Fiona and her people.