The Wife Upstairs

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of emotional abuse and pregnancy loss.

Looking back, Sylvia thinks that if she had hesitated, everything would be different. The woman’s face would have turned blue as she struggled to breathe, and she would’ve died.

In the present, October 2019, Sylvia takes the Long Island Rail Road train from Brooklyn, New York, to Montauk, Long Island. She recently lost her job caring for an elderly woman in Manhattan after a catastrophic event; the job in Montauk, a live-in role caring for a man’s elderly mother, could offer Sylvia a new start.

On the train, an elderly woman sits next to Sylvia for the hours-long journey. She eats the entire time, making a mess, which irritates Sylvia as the train clears out and seats open up. Stuck by the window, Sylvia cannot move to one of the open seats, and the elderly woman refuses to move. The woman begins to choke on her bagel, and Sylvia gives her the Heimlich maneuver. After Sylvia saves her life, the woman accuses her of assault in front of the train conductor and claims that she wasn’t choking. She begins to choke again, coughing up more bagel before moving train cars.