Netflix’s ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’ follows an unlikely connection between two people who are brought together by a strange twist of fate. One is dealing with the grief of losing a sibling, while the other is trying to find meaning in relationships he cannot seem to commit to. As their paths collide, a heartfelt romance develops. However, secrets threaten to derail everything that they have. By the end, the story takes a heartbreaking turn, showing that even the best of intentions can end up hurting the people you love the most. At the same time, it also offers a sense of hope, especially as the characters learn from their mistakes and find a way to be together. SPOILERS AHEAD
Voicemails for Isabelle Plot Synopsis
Jill and her sister, Isabelle, aka Izzy, had always been close to one another. Izzy had cancer, which kept her bedridden for most of her life. Unable to live her own adventures and experiences, she lived vicariously through Jill’s. To make her sister happy, Jill was ready to do the wildest things, just so she would have a story to share with her sister. As the years pass, Jill moves to San Francisco to chase her dream of becoming a baker. Her bond with Izzy remains the same as they regularly talk on the call. One day, Jill receives a call from her parents, and by the time she returns home, Izzy has passed away.
Jill is heartbroken, and her life doesn’t seem to have meaning anymore. She misses her sister and wishes to be able to talk to her. She listens to Izzy’s past voicemails on repeat, and eventually decides to send voicemails of her own. For months, she sends voicemails on Izzy’s number talking about everything, from her job to her bad dates to the fear that she might not be built for the life she wanted. What she doesn’t know is that Izzy’s number has already been reassigned to a guy named Wes.
He receives it as a work cell, and when he starts receiving Jill’s voice notes, he is intrigued, to say the least. Over the next few months, he keeps listening to the voicemails, getting to know everything about her in the process, and falling in love with her. He comes close to texting her about receiving her messages, but it never happens. Eventually, Wes discovers that the messages are intended for Jill’s dead sister, so he decides to go to San Francisco and tell her about it face-to-face.
When he finally meets her, he is not able to summon the courage to tell her the truth and decides to become friends with her instead. His two weeks in San Francisco are spent with her, where Jill falls for him, too. He opens up to her about losing his mother at a young age, while she tells him about her sister, not knowing that he already knows all about it and more. Once again, he tries to tell her the truth, but the opportunity never arrives, and he returns home without having cleared up anything and opening the door to betrayal and heartbreak.
Why do Wes and Jill Break Up?
Before Wes showed up, Jill had sworn off men, or at least, that’s what she told herself. A string of bad dates confirmed for her that she was not going to find the perfect guy for herself like this. She breaks her rule for Tyler Riordan, the guy that she is really excited about. But, he, too, turns out to be a disappointment. So, when Wes shows up, right at the bench where she’d hoped the man of her dreams would be, she is intrigued. Still, she keeps her distance until she has genuine feelings for Wes. Just when it seems things are going pretty great for them, the truth comes to light.
At Wes’ friends’ wedding, she discovers his work phone, where all her voicemails to Isabelle have been going. She realizes that Wes had listened to all her messages, and he used the information from them to get close to her. She is devastated by the discovery that the one time she thought she had something real was based on nothing but lies. Wes feels guilty for not telling Jill the truth. He also loves her but is forced to stay away from her. Because he has already snooped so much on her life, he decides to keep his distance, not even looking at her Instagram posts.
Still, he regularly visits Jose’s in the hopes that he might run into her someday and have the chance to explain himself. By the time New Year’s rolls around, his heart is nowhere close to being mended. His friend tells him about Jill starting her own food truck and that she lost the voicemails from her sister following an upgrade on her phone. Wes decides to help her get the messages, knowing just how important they are for her. His friend, who had previously helped him sell properties, comes through, and Jill gets all of Isabelle’s messages back.
Do Wes and Jill End Up Together?
By New Year’s, Wes decides to do what he should have done all those months ago. He gets a new work phone, but instead of giving up Isabelle’s phone number, he pays its bill for the next year so that the number remains with him rather than being reassigned to someone else. He informs Jill about this, adding that now she can send her sister messages in peace and no one, not even he, will listen to those messages. In the hopes of patching up with her, he asks her to meet him on New Year’s at Jose’s, though he doesn’t really know what to expect.
Meanwhile, Jill has left her job at Flâner and has started her own food truck. She gets the money from her parents, who give her the sum they had set aside as Izzy’s college fund. Now that she’s gone, they know she would have liked for Jill to have it so she could chase her dreams. Things are going pretty great for her, especially after she has a particularly rough time in her personal and professional life. She also tells her parents about Wes and plays them the voicemail he sends her about meeting him at Jose’s. Instead of telling her not to meet Wes again, they encourage her to meet him.
So, Jill decides to go there even when she doesn’t really know what to expect. Wes, on the other hand, runs towards the restaurant in the hopes of catching her there and wishes to apologize to her, even if she doesn’t forgive him. Fortunately, her feelings for him take over, and she decides not to punish him anymore. He expresses his true feelings while also feeling sorry for not telling her about the voicemails before. Jill is ready to let bygones be bygones and gives Wes another chance to prove himself. Their kiss marks the end of their conflict, and they are ready to embark on the new year together.
What do Jill and Wes’ Voicemails to Isabelle Mean?
Wes and Jill might never have met if it weren’t for Isabelle and the voicemails Jill sent her. While it becomes the thing that leads her to the man she ends up with, it remains an emotional crutch on which she leans a little too much. She sees it as the only way to stay tethered to her sister, but she doesn’t realize the toll it’s taking on her. The desire to stay connected to her deceased sister prevents her from forming any connection with other people, basically hampering her from finding some other form of love that can fill her life.
This is why, when she discovers Wes had been listening to her voicemails, she feels betrayed and humiliated. But when he tells her about having paid for the number for a year with no one getting to listen to Jill’s calls anymore, she goes back to forming that connection with Isabelle. Surprisingly, Wes, too, starts this practice, talking to Izzy when he needs some guidance, especially concerning Jill. In the final scene, we hear him talking to Izzy, asking for her permission to ask Jill to move in with him. In the voicemails, he is able to say everything he couldn’t talk about to anyone else.
While Wes develops an unexpected conversation with Izzy, Jill decides that it is time for her to let go of Izzy. This doesn’t mean that she is ready to forget her sister now. It just means that she has accepted her grief, and while Izzy will remain in her heart and soul, it is time to give up the crutch. This decision is also motivated by the fact that she is completely in love with Wes now. In him, he has found the person that she can talk to about anything and everything, much like she used to do with Izzy. More than her romantic partner, he is a kindred spirit, just like Izzy. And to be with him, she has to let go of certain things.
Just as Jill is saying goodbye to Izzy in her last voicemail, Wes asks her to give him a sign of her approval for his and Jill’s relationship moving to the next phase. As if on cue, Dancing On My Own by Robyn starts to play. This is Jill and Izzy’s song, prompting her to break into a dance, sharing it with Izzy, just like she did at prom. Wes sees it as the sign he has asked for and dances with Jill. This means that the duo will be moving in together in San Francisco, and while Izzy will remain an important part of their lives, they are also ready to start the next phase of their journey together.
Read More: Where Was Voicemails for Isabelle Filmed?
