Five Feet Apart

PLOT

Stella Grant is a cystic fibrosis patient who actively uses social media to cope with her illness and tries to live a normal life. She meets another CF patient, William "Will" Newman, who is at the hospital for a medication trial, in an attempt to get rid of the bacterial infection (B. cepacia) he has in his lungs.

CF patients are strictly kept six feet apart to reduce the risk of cross-infection, as contracting bacterial infections from other CF patients can be dangerous - even life-threatening. Stella is determined to follow the rules, and initially dislikes Will, who likes to break the rules and take dangerous risks sometimes. Stella notices that Will isn't strictly following his treatment regimen and eventually gets him to agree to do so.

Will and Stella begin to fall for each other and secretly go on their first date, staying only five feet apart, Stella explaining she's "taking that foot -- for us." They eventually end up at the hospital pool, where they strip to reveal scars from their past surgeries. The next day is Will's birthday and Stella throws him a surprise dinner party with the help of Poe, Stella's best friend and a fellow CF patient.

Poe dies the next day which leaves her devastated. Initially she pushes away Will. Later realizing how Poe did not get to live his life, Stella decides to live hers and go see the lights with Will. The two end up on top of a frozen pond, dancing around. At the same time back at the hospital, a girl arrives in unsaveable critical condition, having being in a car accident. Her lungs are a suitable match to Stella. The nurse runs to find her gone from her room, and tries to contact her. Stella receives text messages, but ignores them. Stella and Will end up talking on a little bridge above the pond, where he receives a message from his mom (who is at the hospital) about Stella's lungs. Trying to convince Stella to go back to the hospital, she is now unwilling and doesn't see the point of extending her life by 5 years. While talking Stella falls backwards and lands back first on the pond, breaking the ice and falling in. Will is able to pull her out, but she is not breathing. He makes the difficult decision to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation, and saves her. At the hospital, Will convinces Stella to take the lungs. The lung transplant is successful, and Will learns that Stella miraculously did not contract his infection.

When Stella wakes up from her surgery, she sees Will through the glass of her room. He has set up a display of lights outside of her room, saying that his only regret was that she did not get to see the lights, so he brought them to her. He tells her that his drug trial isn't working, and he doesn't want her to have to deal with his eventual death. He gives her a notebook of his drawings of her and confesses his love for her. Will makes her close her eyes, because he says he won't be able to leave if she is looking at him. Stella closes her eyes and Will walks away. It is heavily implied that Will dies soon after this encounter.

Years later, Stella can be seen in a video on her channel, saying she misses Will's touch now that she has lost it forever.

CAST

Haley Lu Richardson as Stella Grant

Cole Sprouse as William "Will" Newman

Moisés Arias as Poe Ramirez

Kimberly Hébert Gregory as Nurse Barbara

Parminder Nagra as Dr. Hamid

Claire Forlani as Meredith Newman

Emily Baldoni as Nurse Julie

Cynthia Evans as Erin Grant

Gary Weeks as Tom Grant

Sophia Bernard as Abby Grant

Cecilia Leal as Camila