🤐 SPOILER ALERT 🤐

Life — and love — aren’t about the destination. The important part is the journey. In the outdoorsy rom-com Happiness for Beginners, freshly divorced Helen (Ellie Kemper) decides that she needs to find a new path to walk, and that the best way to do that is to literally take a walk. A very long walk. So she signs up for an intense backcountry survival course, hiking the Appalachian Trail with an odd group of strangers. But, as it turns out, not all of them are strangers. In fact, there’s one very familiar face in the group: her brother Duncan’s best friend, Jake (Luke Grimes). Of course, every trail has an end. And so does every movie. So without further detours, here are the trail markers for how Happiness for Beginners turns out. 

Who does Helen end up with? 

Helen reunites with Jake after their trip ends, at a family party with her grandmother Gigi (Blythe Danner). They declare their love for one another and kiss, finally beginning their romantic relationship. In other words, another journey is just about to begin…

Does Helen make it to the end of the trail? 

Yes! Despite falling behind at the beginning of the hike and being sneered at by her humorless instructor and some of her fellow hikers for her gnarly blisters and lack of preparedness, Helen completes the trip. She even takes quick action on the trail to help a severely injured hiker. Helen eventually makes friends with the rest of the group and earns their respect, admitting that she’ll miss them when they all part ways. 

How does the ending of the movie differ from the book? 

The movie largely sticks to the 2015 Katherine Center novel upon which it’s based, but it does feature a slightly sunnier outlook. For example, in the book, Helen tells Jake to act like he doesn’t know her after he turns her down for sex after they road trip together from Boston to Wyoming for the hike (another change). In the film version, Helen is surprised and angry to see him on the trip, so they pretend not to know one another. Also, Helen’s ex-husband is an alcoholic in the book, while in the movie, he’s just kind of a needy dud (although we do see him pass out on the dance floor at their wedding). 

Similarly, the ending of the film is a bit tidier than in Center’s novel. In the movie, after finishing the trip, Helen drives back to Gigi’s house after a long, lingering glance with Jake in the parking lot. When she’s home, she discovers a Pablo Neruda love poem Jake left in her pack (also in the book). When her house-sitting brother (Alexander Koch) shows up to return her key, she pledges to be a better sister, and they go to a book club birthday party with Gigi. Jake shows up and confesses his love and apologizes for acting like a jealous boyfriend on the trail. The two kiss, then dance, and then kiss some more. 

In the book, however, when Helen returns to Gigi’s, she confesses that she fell in love with Jake. And when her brother Duncan comes to the house, he says he’s known all along that Jake was in love with her, and asks if he got her to love him back, which she refuses to answer. He also reveals that Helen’s rescue dog (not in the movie) who he was watching, died while she was gone. Helen, Duncan, and Gigi attend a bar mitzvah together, where Helen runs into Jake. He confesses his feelings for her, saying that he’s loved her forever but knew that he never had a shot. They get trapped in an elevator while having a tense discussion about their situation. While stuck, they talk it out and kiss, kick-starting their romantic relationship. 

Does Helen achieve her goals?

In the beginning of the movie, Helen writes down three goals for her trip: 1. Find a deeper connection to nature. 2. Rise up from my own ashes like a freaking phoenix. 3. Earn a damned certificate. How do those plans pan out? She does appear to connect with nature on the trip. So check to the first one. As for rising from her own ashes in a phoenix-like fashion, it’s hard to definitively say. But let’s say yes, since she’s grown a lot on the trip. As for earning a certificate, sadly, Helen does not achieve that goal. Instead, the group votes for Hugh, who was injured on the trail and had to be evacuated for medical care, for the certificate.

Does Happiness for Beginners have a happy ending?

Yes! Hiking novice though she may be, Helen does appear to have found happiness, leaving her ex-husband in the past and looking toward a bright new future, complete with a new boyfriend (who looks like Luke Grimes!), a better relationship with herself, and a more courageous and sympathetic take on relating to her family. Though Jake’s vision is deteriorating due to a medical condition, the outlook for the couple is bright. When Helen asks Jake, “Wanna see me dance?” he replies, “As long as I can.”  Awww.