Families Like Ours Ending Explained: Do Laura and Elias End Up Together?

At the end of ‘Families Like Ours,’ all families undergo a metamorphosis. Forced to participate in a mass exodus, they face a host of unique problems, and each character develops their own way of coping. Some believe in the power of love, while others struggle to find the courage to keep pushing forward. More still make difficult decisions; some choose to separate, while others reconnect, embracing their past and starting a new life. Still a teenager, Laura must make choices that will define the rest of her life. Just as they have to let go of Denmark, the cast of this riveting family drama must let go of their anxieties and face their ordeals head-on. Above all, this is a story of believing in oneself, in family, and in the good of humanity. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Families Like Ours Plot Recap

Due to the rising water levels, the government of Denmark has begun evacuating all its citizens, turning millions of lives upside down. Working for the External Affairs Ministry, Nikolaj shares this information with his partner, Henrik. Together, they quickly liquidate their assets while alerting their immediate family. While Nikolaj informs his brother-in-law, Jacob, Henrik attempts to caution his brother Peter, but changes his decision when Peter verbally abuses him. Jacob desperately tries to sell his house before heading out for Paris, but fails. Banking it all on finding a job with his old Parisian contact, the family decides to leave the country. An unstable future looms ahead for him and his family, particularly his 19-year-old daughter Laura.

Tensions rise as the mass exodus begins, and in the midst of it, Laura finds love in the form of Elias, a classmate who plans to leave for Finland. Between this and her birth mother, Fanny, being forced to relocate to Bucharest, Romania, under government care, Laura finds herself at a crossroads. Her decision is finalized after she sees a drawing by Lucas, a young football prodigy who displays clairvoyance. His drawing features her using a sled to cross a river and reach her father while a mysterious person is left behind. Interpreting that to be her mother, Laura rushes to be with her. Nikolaj and Henrik prepare to leave for England, and Jacob takes the rest of his family.

Things quickly take a turn for the worse. Laura misses her boat because of roadside protests, opting for an illegal ferry, which lands her in Russia, forcing her to walk from Poland. Three days of radio silence from her end scare her family, and Jacob compromises their career prospects to get police attention. Eventually, she connects to Elias and promises to meet him at Stegna, where they plan to go to Bucharest. When Elias attempts to traverse Poland by foot without a passport, he is intercepted by the cops, who, in their hate for immigrants, brutally assault him. Meanwhile, Henrik is troubled by Peter and the people who owe him money. Surviving attacks and attempts to steal his wealth, he arms himself, only to accidentally kill the son of their caretaker, Danilo. While the two drown the evidence, the impact of this event persists.

At last, all central characters find themselves at the lowest points of their lives and struggle to pick back the pieces and construct a new life. Laura refuses to give up on Elias despite his mysterious disappearance. Jacob and his family endure many trials and tribulations to make ends meet. Fanny reconnects with her roots and finds growth in religion and community. Lucas and his mother, Christel, try to navigate through a future where they might have to part ways, and Nikolaj and Henrik try to see past their sins and visualize a future of peace and nourishment together.

Families Like Ours Ending: Do Laura and Elias Reunite?

By the end of the story, Laura is heartbroken about Elias’ disappearance, unable to move past the gaping hole his vanishing has left in her heart. Elias’s mother tells Laura that his belongings have been found washed up by the shore and that he is presumed dead. This devastating news breaks them both down, but Laura resolutely denies his death, claiming that he promised to come to her. Returning home, she confesses her love in text messages, hoping they reach him. Indeed, her prayers are rewarded, as days later, around Christmas, Elias finally goes back and reveals what he has been through. The assault left him in a month-long coma, and while currently in a rehabilitation center in Poland, he can hardly walk or sleep. Laura, relieved, reassures him that her confession is genuine. In a moment of vulnerability, they both accept that their lives have changed drastically.

Laura and Elias’s dynamic starts with casual flirtation, and yet, over time, they develop a deep emotional bond, sharing each other’s memories and desires completely. In their conversation on the phone, Laura reveals that, just like him, she also has trouble sleeping and then suggests that they do so together. She subtly tells him that she embraces him with all that he is, even in his current state, and that they can share their burdens. However, Elias shows some hesitance. When he plans to go to Finland as the Best Man at Mathilde’s wedding, the knowledge of Laura’s arrival makes him hesitant. He is unsure about showing up and, thus, sharing his vulnerability with her, expressing a gap in their relationship.

The two lovers find their catharsis in the wedding sequence, where they both undergo a transformation and gain a deeper understanding of one another. Bound by his anxieties, Elias avoids making eye contact with Laura for most of the wedding proceedings, forcing her to make her own space before him, breaking their silence. The poem the two share is one that speaks of being forgotten, to be reduced to Berries. In the end, Laura refuses to forget him, symbolized by her lifting him up for the wedding. She proves capable of supporting him and wading through these difficult times together, attaining true stability. As everyone cheers in joy, the two shed tears, hoping that this moment of happiness never ends.

How Do Jacob And Amalie Pull Through?

While Elias and Laura work through their issues, the same applies to Jacob and Amalie, who have their own struggles to contend with. After enduring a steep fall from grace, they both try for a stable life by working with Gilles. However, it fails when Jacob breaks a certain condition, leading to his and Amalie’s firing from Gilles’ payroll. Subsequently, the two find themselves stuck amidst chaos and uncertainty. They decide to temporarily perform a series of odd jobs, with Amalie working as a janitor for Mr. Boyer, an old Parisian acquaintance. However, the legality of their citizenship remains a constant issue. As the danger of keeping them employed piles on, Mr. Boyer has no choice but to let her go, promising her work when the papers come. Distraught but unable to voice out her frustration, she silently returns home, where Jacob worries about raising their youngest, Mikkel.

It is evident that amidst the pressures of their survival, Jacob and Amalie are also struggling to connect as a couple. Their original house and the one they were promised for working with Gilles are both far cries from the cramped apartment they end up living in. They are denied that future because of a series of unfortunate events leading up to Jacob’s decision to inform Interpol about the disappearance of his daughter. His decision costs him his prospects as an architect, with Gilles not wanting to associate with him while there is a police spotlight, leaving him bankrupt and homeless. These adverse circumstances fill him with bitterness, as he gets into multiple aggressive arguments. The family crisis reaches its boiling point when Amalie reveals she has been fired, leaving them with meager euros to run their household.

Seeing their bleak financial situation, Jacob proposes that they shift to Bucharest and live with Laura and Fanny, restarting their lives from scratch. He seems to have given up, questioning whether he has reached the rock bottom of his life. Amalie reminisces about the life they had imagined for themselves in Paris, the place where Jacob had proposed to her twice. Willing to try for a better life and not ready to give up, Amalie reminds Jacob of his brilliance as an architect, proposing to work while Jacob takes care of Mikkel if he desires. Amalie’s reminder brings a smile to Jacob’s face, a breakthrough to turn to a new chapter of life as they once again confess their love and embrace each other.

During his call with his daughter, Jacob insists on exchanging the grief of losses with gratitude for what is present. Jacob talks about the interviews scheduled in January in his conversation with Laura. Just like Amalie, Jacob still holds onto hope. As the father and daughter cry, divided by borders, they grieve for the life they have lost in Denmark and give way to a new beginning as they come to recognize and accept their loss. At the end of the story, we see both Jacob and Amalie forging ahead with their lives, showcasing a steeliness and resolve that is necessary to walk through the fires around them. However, given their increasing belief and support in one another near the concluding parts, it is likely they will manage to bring a better future into being for themselves and Mikkel.

What Happens to Nikolaj and Henrik? Do They Take in Lucas?

While Lucas is scouted by the Liverpool Football Club and set to leave for England, problems arise when his mother is denied legal residency. Pursuing a career in football is the best life for her son, and understanding this, she steels herself to make a heartbreaking decision: to let her son go to England on his own. Lucas is to be assigned foster parents there but doesn’t fit in with anyone, still yearning for his mother. However, he finds a perfect match in Nikolaj and Henrik, who, at the beginning of the story, are contemplating raising a child. Lucas finds himself reminded of home when in the company of the two, and thus, they all develop an intimate bond, something that is much needed for Henrik, who is guilt-ridden over accidentally killing Danilo’s son.

Throughout the story, Henrik’s peculiar relationship with Peter unravels in layers. Initially, Nikolaj expresses confusion regarding Henrik’s decision to reconnect with his homophobic older brother, who has a history of abuse and temper issues. This meeting, then, sets off a chain of events that leads to murder. Henrik’s breaking point happens during his talk with Lucas, who, in a moment of seeming clairvoyance, asks him why he is not helping his brother. Ridden with guilt, he gives away a portion of his money to Peter, enabling him to survive with his family in Norway. He wishes to turn himself in but faces the collapse of the entire Justice System, giving him another chance at life and making up for his sins.

Denied residency in England, Christel follows Fanny’s footsteps in living in Bucharest, eventually joining her in her vocation. The two mothers follow a different trajectory. While Fanny reunites with her daughter and leads a stable life, the football prodigy has a less joyous fate. However, in keeping with the story’s motifs, Lucas, too, finds a new start to his life, this time with Nikolaj and Henrik as his foster parents. He keeps in contact with his mother, promising to get her to London after becoming a successful football player. Thus, they make up another shade of separation and the coping mechanisms one can develop to deal with it. The mother and son duo makes peace with their present, looking forward to a future where they are together.

Does Fanny Get a New Job? What Happens to Holger?

Positioned beside Jacob and Amalie, Fanny’s life after relocation is one of happiness and comfort. Previously hollowed out by stress and career paralysis and indebted to Jacob, Fanny rejuvenates her life in Bucharest. The public relocation program enables Fanny to settle in Bucharest. She takes up journalism once again, even selling a series of articles and moving to a new apartment with Laura. Flourishing among the Dane immigrants, she forms her new life around the Protestant Church and forges new connections and family. Reconnecting with Christel is another way through which Fanny engages with her past. While Laura is a link to an idea of family that cascades down to isolation, Christel becomes the path to healing those lost relationships.

Fanny’s past shows her as a lost figure. With her award-winning career and passion on hiatus and living under stress and isolation, Fanny seems resigned to her current way of living. Even as Laura argues with the government official to arrange a way for Fanny to move them to Paris, Fanny does not put up any fight. She dejectedly accepts Jacob’s refusal as well. Laura’s attempts to create a way for Fanny, along with them, to Paris prove fruitless. With only one choice left, Laura calls her uncle Holger, who agrees to give away most of his life’s savings. When the bank fails to comply, he vandalizes it before borrowing money for his sister and fleeing. While he initially desires to stay in Denmark, he is last mentioned hustling his way to Thailand. Frustrated with the rugged bureaucratic culture of his homeland, he seeks something new and exotic.

Will Denmark Ever Go Back to Normal?

The final sequence of the series scans the future of Denmark through a birds-eye view, revealing a haunting scenery. Cities on cities lie completely submerged, devoid of humanity. This is then juxtaposed with old, black-and-white recordings of the country in the past. All of its features — clean, wide roads, lush green spaces, sprawling public squares are displayed at their very best. People celebrate life around a fountain, and cars move about to the hum of the day, a peaceful, mobile life that has since been disrupted. The Nation Of Denmark lies erased, with reportedly over 95% of its population evacuated. While the numbers denote positivity, they are the true nature of the suffering the displaced have to endure. At every turn of society, people and families are forced to start anew.

Laura talks of an optimistic future for Denmark during her conversation with Fanny, hoping that things might turn around. Fanny’s interjection breaks Laura’s nervous hope; the conditions might recede back to normal, but only after a long time, some 40 years later. Fanny’s reminder is one of consciousness itself: a lost generational experience can never return soon, for a change might come, but only when it has wreaked havoc in millions of lives. If there is a possibility for them to return to normalcy, it is only in knowing that they have escaped the bottom of the sea. And though they have come to a new place, Laura and Fanny have nothing. It is by adapting to their new life that they create a home rather than hoping for things to become as they were; the change must be made, not merely wished.