'Sterling Point' Ending Explained & Finale Recap: Did Ramona Move To New York?

[Spoiler Alert] Sterling Point’s ending was about Annie and Ramona deciding whether they should stay at the titular location, because that’s where their mom grew up and took her last breath, or if they should move to New York. Annie lived with her father, Steven, and her twin brother, Connor, in New York City. She was looking to secure a place at a prestigious summer program, but she didn’t succeed in that endeavor. On top of that, her grandfather, Gordon, died, and she ended up inheriting an island in Canada. She also found a letter from Gordon, telling her to “find” her mother, Goldie, who had apparently died a long time ago of cancer. Since Annie was feeling pretty directionless, she went to Sterling Point, and that was where she learned that her mother had another daughter, Ramona, who was the one who had looked after Gordon until his dying days, and had also inherited a part of the island (along with Connor). Now, Steven and Goldie couldn’t conceive a child, which was why they had adopted Annie and Connor. But then due to complications in their relationship, Goldie moved to Sterling Point, while Steven brought up Annie and Connor in New York City. Since Goldie had an affair with Joe, it was assumed that Ramona was their child (no, Goldie didn’t have cancer). However, a simple DNA test revealed the truth. How did that revelation influence Annie, Ramona, and Connor when it came to selling off the island and settling down in NYC? Let’s find out.

One of the biggest reasons why Annie wasn’t interested in leaving Sterling Point, other than the fact that it was connected to her past, was her relationship with Ellis (Joe’s biological son with Kate). Yeah, she was two-timing Rory (Denise’s son) and Ellis for a while, but eventually, she settled on Ellis, because she felt like he was the one. However, since she felt that living in Canada wasn’t even an option for her, she spent her last few days with Ellis, that too in a way that would be unforgettable for the both of them. In the meantime, the DNA test that Ramona had ordered arrived in the mail, and it was revealed that Steven was actually her biological father. I guess she was conceived some time before Goldie moved back to her hometown, and since she was having an affair with Joe, everybody, including the guilty party, presumed that Joe was the father. But yeah, somehow Steven managed to get Goldie pregnant, and she gave birth to the miracle baby: Ramona. It was a lot for everyone to process, but Steven kinda ordered everybody to be empathetic to each other, because it was a lot to take in at once. That didn’t deter Ramona from requesting Steven to relieve himself from being her legal guardian, because she wanted to look out for herself all on her own; she seemingly had had enough of the Jacobsons. Steven was alright with obliging Ramona’s request, but he kept the option of Ramona coming to live with him in NYC open. The fact that Steven had to stay away from his biological daughter for all these years had impacted Annie very deeply. She was such an empath that the tragedy of this whole situation was making her sad. At the same time, she didn’t want to just put everything in the rear-view mirror and jet off to NYC because that’d be convenient. She felt that she had lived a lie in NYC, and being at Sterling Point made more sense to her. Steven wasn’t okay with that, but he had no choice but to give Annie the space that she needed to pontificate on this matter and arrive at a decision. Ramona thought that she was much more emotionally secure than Annie because she had received the closure that she never knew she needed. That said, when she entertained the thought of moving to NYC while having a conversation with Oona, things went out of control. 

Ramona had spent the whole summer vacation trying to woo Oona. Ramona even went so far as to misbehave with one of Oona’s dates just so that she could have Oona all to herself. Oona decided to make things official with Ramona, and things were going pretty good. So, after all that, to hear that Ramona was even considering moving to NYC was quite devastating for Oona, and she got into a proper tiff with Ramona, telling her to leave if that was what she really wanted to do. In stark contrast to this, Ellis and Annie were in each other’s embrace and talking about how much they were gonna miss each other. Hence, with nowhere else to go, Ramona approached Connor for advice, and he told her to sell her share of the island and leave. She had spent a major chunk of her youth looking after a dying old man and then figuring out what she should do with herself. The DNA test and her breakup with Oona were signs that she should actually move forward instead of looking backwards at what she was leaving behind at Sterling Point. That made sense to Ramona, but when she sat down with Annie to discuss this matter, Annie got overwhelmed. She tried to impose her decision onto Ramona so that the memory of Goldie wasn’t lost with their departure, but Ramona was too hellbent on leaving to listen to Annie’s advice. Annie had apparently promised to Ramona that, when it came to selling the island, she’d do whatever Ramona did because, technically speaking, Ramona had spent more time at Sterling Point than Annie had. Hence, initially, she agreed to respect Ramona’s choice. But later on, she walked back on that decision because she felt that she was too emotionally or spiritually connected to the island to simply let go of it like that. That made Ramona really angry and she tried to rekindle her relationship with Oona, because if she was going to live in that godforsaken place, she’d prefer having Oona by her side. However, Maple didn’t allow that, because she didn’t want her sister to be treated so frivolously by Ramona, and Maple essentially sent Ramona away. In the meantime, Annie went off to meet Joe, in the hopes that he’d give her some direction about what Goldie might’ve wanted her to do. He was the last person to have seen Goldie, so Annie thought that he knew Goldie better than anyone else. The first thing that Joe clarified was that it was never Goldie’s intention to completely abandon Annie and Connor. Apparently, she wanted to go to NYC to meet her (adopted) kids, but she couldn’t because, well, she died. The second thing that Joe explained was that, contrary to what Ramona thought, Goldie didn’t die of complications from childbirth; she had a heart condition that she had hidden from everybody. And thirdly, Joe gave Annie a detailed description of Goldie’s last moments.

In Sterling Point’s ending, as Steven and Ellis were packing the outbound plane with the Jacobsons’ stuff, Ramona approached Steven and hugged him. Annie witnessed that from afar, and she came to the conclusion that Ramona should go with Steven and Connor (who was looking forward to meeting his biological parents via the adoption agency that had given him and Annie to Steven and Goldie) to NYC and she herself should stay back at the titular marina to “grow up” with Goldie’s essence. And yeah, that’s what they agreed upon. Mirroring the opening shot of the season, Ramona began her new life in NYC while Annie stayed at the marina. I don’t know why so much hoopla was made around the sale of the island when each party selling a part of their share of the inheritance was an option. Maybe because the conflict was centered around the emotional stakes rather than the logistical ones. Ramona leaving Sterling Point meant that she was bidding farewell to her whole life, and Annie staying in Sterling Point meant that she was essentially severing her ties with Steven and Connor. On the flipside, by moving to NYC, Ramona was giving herself the chance to discover her true potential. In Annie’s case, I think she had made the most of her academic potential, and she needed to change things up by staying away from NYC and finding out what her mother was like. Just to be clear, neither Annie nor Ramona knew that the decisions they were making were good for them. Maybe Annie will realize that marinating in Goldie’s memories, being in a relationship with Ellis, and not having access to modern facilities is not a good idea, and she’d be better off studying and pursuing a regular career. Maybe Ramona will find out that she’s best suited to the marina life, and the whole wanderlust thing isn’t her jam. However, the fact of the matter was that they had to learn that for themselves. They thought that they had struggled a lot, but they still had rose-tinted glasses on their faces. If the elders told them the truth about the consequences of the choices they were making, it’d seem like fascism to them. If they stumbled, fell, and then picked themselves up, they’d learn a lesson that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. At the time of writing this article, the show hasn’t been greenlit for a second season. If that happens, I think we’ll see what Ramona and Annie are up to in NYC and Sterling Point, respectively, and whether or not Connor has made some kinda progress in terms of getting in touch with his and Annie’s birth parents. Unless it doesn’t get greenlit for a second season, I guess people will be satisfied with that ending, right? Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments section below.