Sliding Doors - Plot

Plot

The film follows Helen Quilley (Gwyneth Paltrow), who has just been fired from her public relations job. After she misses her train on the London Underground, the plot splits into two parallel universes, also detailing the separate path her life would have taken had she boarded that train.

In the timeline in which she boards the train, she meets James (John Hannah) on the underground and they strike up a conversation. She gets home in time to catch her boyfriend, Gerry (John Lynch), in bed with his ex-girlfriend, Lydia (Jeanne Tripplehorn); she dumps him and moves in with her friend, Anna (Zara Turner), and changes her appearance for a fresh start. James continues to serendipitously pop into Helen's life, cheering her up and encouraging her to start her own public relations firm. She and James fall in love despite Helen's reservations about beginning another relationship so soon after her ugly breakup with Gerry. Eventually, Helen discovers she's pregnant, believing it is James' child, and goes to see him at his office. She is stunned to learn from James' secretary that he is married. Upset, she disappears. James finds her on a bridge and explains that he was married but is now separated and planning to divorce. He and his soon-to-be-ex-wife maintain the appearance of a happy marriage for the sake of his sick mother. After she and James declare their love, Helen walks out into the road and is hit by a car.

In the timeline in which she misses the train, she then hails a taxi instead but a man tries to snatch her handbag. Helen is injured in the scuffle and goes to the hospital. She arrives home after Lydia has left and carries on, oblivious of Gerry's infidelity, and takes two part-time jobs to pay the bills. Gerry conceals his infidelity and juggles the two women in his life; Lydia even interacts with Helen on several occasions. Helen has a number of conflicts with Gerry but discovers she's pregnant. She never manages to tell him, but does tell him that she has a job interview with an international PR firm. Gerry, thinking Helen is at her interview, goes to see Lydia at her apartment, who is also pregnant with his child. While at Lydia's, Gerry answers the doorbell and sees Helen standing at the door; she is stunned to see Gerry, while Lydia tells her she can't do the interview because she's "deciding whether or not to keep your boyfriend's baby." Distraught, Helen runs off and falls down Lydia's staircase while trying flee from Gerry.

In both timelines, Helen goes to the hospital and loses her baby. In the timeline in which she boards the train, she dies in the arms of her newfound love, James; in the timeline in which she misses the train, she recovers and tells Gerry to leave for good. Before waking, she sees brief visions of the alternate Helen's life in a dream.

In the final scene (now taking place solely in the original "missed train" universe), James is leaving the hospital after visiting his mother, and Helen is leaving after ending her relationship with Gerry. Helen drops an earring in the lift and it is picked up by James. This mirrors the start of the film, where James picks up Helen's earring on the lift after Helen is fired from her job. Before the doors close, James tells Helen to cheer up, and repeats his line, "You know what the Monty Python boys say..." Helen (who, in the beginning of the film, assumed the rejoinder to be "always look on the bright side of life.") says, "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition." She and James stare at one another, each surprised by her response. The lift doors close, leaving the audience to speculate whether it was fate or coincidence that brought Helen and James together under these circumstances.