SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!
Seventeen-year-old Ruby (Emilia Jones) is the sole hearing member of a deaf family — a CODA, child of deaf adults. Her life revolves around acting as interpreter for her parents (Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur) and working on the family’s struggling fishing boat every day before school with her father and older brother (Daniel Durant). But when Ruby joins her high school’s choir club, she discovers a gift for singing and soon finds herself drawn to her duet partner Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo). Encouraged by her enthusiastic, tough-love choirmaster (Eugenio Derbez) to apply to a prestigious music school, Ruby finds herself torn between the obligations she feels to her family and the pursuit of her own dreams.
SPOILERS AHEAD
CODA Plot Summary and Synopsis
In Gloucester, Massachusetts, Ruby Rossi is the only hearing member of her family: her parents Frank and Jackie, and older brother Leo are all culturally deaf.
She assists with the family fishing business and plans to join it full-time after finishing high school.
Ruby auditions for the school choir, run by Mr. Villalobos (or Mr. V), but when she is called upon to sing, she panics and runs away. She later returns to Mr. V and explains that she was bullied for talking funny as a child.
Mr. V accepts Ruby into the choir after hearing her beautiful voice and encourages her to be more confident.
Mr. V pairs Ruby with Miles, a fellow student, for a duet at the upcoming choir recital. Their first performance goes poorly as they each prepare separately; Mr. V insists that they get together on their own to practice.
Ruby invites Miles to her house to practice, but they are interrupted by Frank and Jackie loudly having sex in the next room over. Ruby later hears classmates in the cafeteria mocking the incident behind her back; Miles apologizes for spreading the story, but she wants nothing to do with him.
She eventually forgives him, and they resume their practice while kindling a relationship.
Meanwhile, Frank and Leo struggle to make ends meet with the fishing business as new fees and sanctions are imposed by the local board.
At a board meeting, Frank stands and announces that he is starting his own company to get around the new restrictions and sell his fish on his own, inviting other local fishermen to join in. The family struggles to get the company off the ground, relying on Ruby to talk to people and spread the word.
Mr. V encourages Ruby to audition for Berklee College of Music and offers her private lessons to prepare. Ruby joins him for the lessons but becomes increasingly busy helping her family with the business.
Mr. V grows irritated with her constantly being late and making excuses, canceling their lessons. He chastises her for wasting his time and accuses her of not caring enough about music.
While fishing one day, Frank and Leo are intercepted by the Coast Guard after failing to respond to ship horns and radio calls. They are fined and have their fishing licenses revoked for their negligence; they appeal and manage to get their license back on the condition that they always have a hearing person on board with them.
Ruby announces to the family that she is foregoing college and will join the business full-time. Her parents are supportive, but Leo reacts angrily, insisting that they can manage their problems without Ruby’s help.
Ruby’s family attends her choir recital, and while they cannot hear her sing, they notice the positive reception from the audience around them.
That night, Frank asks Ruby to sing a song for him while he feels her vocal cords, growing emotional. The entire family then drives to Boston with Ruby for her Berklee audition; they are not supposed to enter the audition hall, but they sneak up to the balcony to watch anyway.
Ruby is nervous at first but gains confidence when she sees her family; she signs along with the song so they can understand what she is saying.
CODA Ending
Sometime later, Ruby is accepted to Berklee; she shares the news with her family and Mr. V who are all excited for her.
She asks Miles to visit her in Boston sometime.
Ruby’s friend Gertie drives her to Boston for college as her family sees them off; Ruby signs “I love you” to them as they drive away.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).