“The Age of Adaline” Ending, Explained: Does Adaline Stay Young Forever — and Who Does She End Up With?

Warning: The Age of Adaline spoilers ahead!

The Age of Adaline is a timeless tale that blends love, science and fate.

The 2015 romantic fantasy movie, which is now available to stream on Netflix, follows the life of Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively), who experiences a dramatic car accident that leaves her as a youthful 29-year-old for decades.

After Adaline's car plunges into freezing waters, her heart and breathing stop. Moments later, a lightning bolt strikes the vehicle, which — due to a fictional scientific phenomenon — not only revives Adaline but also makes her immune to future aging.

As Adaline adjusts to a life stuck in time, she continues changing her name, residence and appearance every decade — and manages to avoid photographs, personal ties and romantic relationships — in an attempt to protect her secret and prevent herself from becoming a case study. However, her carefully constructed life begins to unravel when she falls for Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman), whose father, William (Harrison Ford), was a past love of Adaline's.

Noticing Adaline's uncanny appearance to her younger self, William begins to piece things together, putting her secret at risk.

So, how does The Age of Adaline end? Here's everything to know about the movie's final moments, including the fate of Adaline's eternal youth condition.

How did The Age of Adaline end?

When Ellis invites Adaline to celebrate his parents' 40th wedding anniversary with him, she is shocked to find that his father, William, is someone with whom she had a romantic fling. William recognizes Adaline, who insists her name is "Jenny" and lets him believe that she is Adaline's daughter, while the surrounding family members chalk the situation up to being an "incredible" coincidence.

As William explains, he grew close to Adaline during his time in London, where "Jenny" emphasizes her "mother" lived in the 1960s. After he asks how Adaline has been, "Jenny" informs him that she died six years ago.

Reminders of William and Adaline's romance surface throughout her week there, including the realization that William named a comet Della, Adaline's nickname, and the news that he had plans to propose until she stood him up. Eventually, tensions and clues — specifically a scar he stitched up himself years ago — lead William to put the pieces together and confront Adaline. As a result, she once again tries to disappear, despite William begging her to stay, and breaks up with Ellis via a note.

While driving away from the Jones residence — and telling her daughter Flemming over the phone that she's done running from her life — she gets into another life-altering car accident. Ellis, who has chased after her, finds "Jenny" on the side of the road and rushes her to the hospital, where she then tells him the truth, and they reconcile.

In the final scene, Adaline notices something new to her appearance — a gray hair — signaling that she is finally able to age normally, after spending 78 years at 29 years old.

How did Adaline reverse the eternal youth condition?

Much like the original incident that caused Adaline's eternal youth condition at the beginning of the movie, it's another freak accident that leads to its reverse in the end. For the first time in 78 years (since the night of her first accident), snow miraculously falls in Sonoma County, Calif., causing Adaline to go into hypothermia.

As the narrator explains, her blood flow, metabolism and breath decrease, signaling that she is dying. Just like during her initial accident all those years ago, her body temperature reaches 87 degrees, and her heart stops beating.

She is dead by definition until paramedics administer volts via a defibrillator that bring her back to life — and reverse her condition. As it turns out, the telomere structures in her genes regain their pliability when the paddles strike her heart, causing her to resume the natural aging process.

Who does Adaline end up with?

After William confronts Adaline, she tells him the truth, packs up her bags and writes Ellis a note that she "can't do this" and "can't explain." Adaline attempts to disappear from both his and Ellis' lives and drives away in a hurry, but it's Ellis who chases after her and finds her on the road after her near-fatal car accident.

After Adaline wakes up in the hospital, Ellis apologizes for scaring her the night before when he said he was falling in love with her. Instead of continuing the lies, Adaline tells him she loves him too and starts telling him the truth, beginning with the fact that her name isn’t "Jenny."

In the end, Ellis and Adaline are preparing to leave the house for an event when she notices the gray hair. With a camera in her hand, the pair head out, marking the beginning of a life of normalcy for the pair, one where she no longer has to live in secret.

What happens between Adaline and her daughter Flemming?

In 1932, Adaline welcomed her daughter Flemming — named after her grandmother — with her late husband Clarence James Prescott, who died in 1937 from a work-related accident. Throughout the movie, Adaline's relationship with her daughter is also impacted by her condition, as Flemming naturally ages past her, making it complicated for them to present themselves as mother and daughter in public.

At the beginning of the movie, Adaline asks a young Flemming to tell people that her mother went on vacation to Europe and never came back, allowing her to leave town and form the first of many new identities. When she would eventually return, Adaline instructed Flemming to introduce her as a friend rather than her mother.

After Adaline's second accident that reversed her condition, a now-grown Flemming (Ellen Burstyn) meets Ellis in the hospital room and keeps up the secret — though with an obvious age gap, tells him she is Adaline's grandmother. That is until Adaline reveals that she has shared her secret with Ellis, leading Flemming to cry tears of happiness and hug him.

In the final scene, which takes place one year later, Ellis and Adaline are preparing to leave for an event. Flemming is by her side in the house, indicating that Adaline has kept her promise: she is done running and is finally embracing a life of openness and connection with those she loves.

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