Posted by The Choice is a romantic, intense movie based on the book of the same name by Nicholas Sparks. The American writer has a particular propensity for movie adaptations (11 of his novels have become movies over the years, we saw it already with The Best Of Me), and people love it every time. The Choice is no different: the story of how Travis fell in love with Gabby and was forced later to make a tough choice when she entered an extended coma. Viewers wanted to know if Gabby dies in the book and how long it took before he woke up from her coma: let’s have the movie’s plot and ending explained.
You can watch the official trailer for The Choice here on Youtube.
The Choice plot & ending explained: how Gabby wakes up
For the movie’s first half, the plot of The Choice flows peacefully. Travis is a fascinating guy that finds it hard to establish an authentic connection with a woman. On the other hand, Gabby has a boyfriend and some initial contrast with Travis after she becomes his new neighbor. However, as often happens in Nicholas Sparks’ books, love always finds its way: in a few days, Travis and Gabby deeply fall in love, and there is nothing that needs to be explained in this part of The Choice plot.
After Gabby’s boyfriend is back, Gabby is very confused. She doesn’t know what to do, and that makes Travis panic. They both follow the normal tendency of their characters: Travis will pull the plug and return home alone; Gabby stays honest, and after the initial confusion, she confesses everything to her boyfriend. However, as she explains to Trevor in her letter, her boyfriend reacts surprisingly, proposing to her the morning after. She accepts, throwing Travis into a difficult situation.
At some point, Travis decides to fight for the first time in his life. He also arrives to propose in front of Gabby’s parents, and she will say yes. That will be the beginning of their life together. Until now, we are led to believe that “the choice” in the title was Travis’ decision to fight and marry her, but soon the plot will evolve into the ending, where the movie’s message is fully explained.
One night, Gabby has a severe car accident and enters an extended coma. Earlier in their life, Gabby and Travis made out a will where they declared that they didn’t want to be kept on life support for too long. That’s the choice Travis has to make when the doctor asks him after 90 days of coma: should he consent to end her life support according to her will, or should he stick to the hope that she could wake up?
A part of Travis knows he should find the strength and sign the paper that ends her life support, but the decision is too hard, and he keeps postponing it. At the ending of The Choice, we discover it was a good decision: Gabby finally wakes up after four months in her coma. She won’t die; she will tell Travis that she always listened to every word he said during his visits. She was always there, she never abandoned her hope. Silently fighting day after day, she finally managed to return to her family.
The message at the ending of The Choice deserves to be explained: Travis and the kids are delighted to welcome mommy home again. It’s a weird feeling; you are not sure if you can rely on this new happiness, if you can be sure that nothing will go wrong. But that’s how life is sometimes, and slowly you learn to ride it, enjoying every moment the way it deserves. Because every day is unique, and love is the way you make the best out of it.
The plot of the book is very similar to the movie: even in Nicholas Sparks’ novel, Gabby wakes up and returns home, making everyone happy.
