The Perfect Couple Ending Changes A Key Detail From The Book

Like Knives Out and The White Lotus before it, Netflix’s The Perfect Couple revolves around a privileged bunch — played by a buzzy cast of A-listers — who gather in an idyllic location where murder strikes.

Based on Elin Hilderbrand’s best-selling novel, the new Netflix series takes place during what was supposed to be a lavish wedding weekend on Nantucket. But when the maid of honor’s body is discovered in the water on the morning of the nuptials, things take a turn for the twisted.

Want to take a peek ahead? Here’s a summary of The Perfect Couple book ending before you marathon the series, which premiered on Sept. 5. Spoilers ahead for the book and series.

Meet The Winburys

The Perfect Couple takes place during the wedding festivities for Benji and Celeste (Amelia in the series). Celeste is nervous about marrying into Benji’s wealthy family, the Winburys, because she doesn’t love him. Still, she moves the wedding forward for her mom, who has stage 4 cancer.

On the morning of the would-be wedding, Celeste finds the body of her best friend and maid of honor, Merritt, in the water off the Winburys’ beach estate.

The ensuing investigation reveals several intertwining family secrets. Patriarch Tag was having an affair with Merritt, who was pregnant at the time of her death. The eldest son, Thomas, and his wife, Abby, are expecting a child, although Thomas is having an affair with a family friend, Featherleigh (named Isabel on the show).

After the foiled wedding, Celeste decides not to marry Benji and plans to be with his best friend (and best man), Shooter.

A Fatal Mistake

But what happened to Merritt? It’s revealed that Abby slipped a sedative into Featherleigh’s drink to prevent her from sleeping with Thomas the night before the wedding. Unbeknownst to Abby, Featherleigh was taking the glass of water out to Merritt, who had just returned from a tumultuous kayak ride with Tag.

Later, alone on the beach, Merritt threw her gifted ring from Tag into the ocean — upset that he didn’t want her to have his baby. After cutting her foot and rinsing it off in the water, she saw the ring and tried to retrieve it, but she ultimately drowned.

The Perfect Couple Book Vs. TV Show

While the Netflix adaptation sticks to most of the major beats from Hilderbrand’s book, it does diverge in one key way — if you’re interested in comparing. As a reminder, spoilers ahead!

At the end of the new Netflix series, it’s revealed that Abby (played by Dakota Fanning) is directly responsible for Merritt’s death. A flashback shows that she gave Merritt a glass of juice laced with sleeping pills, and then drowned her in the middle of the night.

Her apparent motive was to prevent Merritt from having a future Winbury heir, which would delay the trust that she and her husband have been counting on.