'Inheritance' 2025 Ending Explained And Film Summary: What Happened To The Hard Drive?

Director Neil Burger’s Inheritance is a thriller shot on an iPhone that is primarily about a daughter desperate for her father’s affection. Maya’s mother had recently passed away, and she had been her primary caregiver for the last nine months. Her elder sister, Jess, fondly remembered her mother, Laura, who always found joy in helping others. She was a nurse and a great believer in Buddhist teachings, and always told her loved ones that happiness was meant to be shared. Jess believed her sister had come close to Laura’s ideals by tirelessly catering to Laura’s needs. Maya struggled to deal with her emotions; she wanted to numb herself and did not know how to express her feelings in words. Maya and Jess were surprised to see their estranged father, Sam, at the funeral service. They both assumed there was an ulterior motive behind his visit, and Maya soon discovered what her father was up to.

Spoiler Alert

Why was Sam kidnapped?

Sam was apologetic when he met Maya at the funeral. He regretted not being there for his daughters, and he hoped they would give him a chance to make it up to them. Sam offered Maya a job, even though that was not exactly what she was looking for. But then again, she needed money to stay afloat, and a job that paid a thousand dollars per day was quite lucrative. While Maya did not have a background in real estate, Sam believed she was perfect for the job, which required impressive youngsters to show their wealthy foreign clients around the city during the property hunting phase. The catch was that Maya had to travel to Cairo to meet the clients before bringing them to New York to purchase the properties. Maya was initially hesitant; trusting her father and traveling to Cairo felt like a big leap. However, when Sam expressed his desire to show her that he was a caring father, Maya began to reconsider his proposal. Jess was not happy with Maya’s decision; the fact that their father had been absent all their lives and was suddenly trying to be their support system did not sit well with her, but Maya did not care. She had been confined to the apartment for so long that she desperately needed a reason to get far away from the place, and Cairo sounded like a good option.

Even though their father had always been a shady businessman, Maya was willing to take the risk and give him the benefit of the doubt. She found excitement in shoplifting, a thrill that might have been inherited from her father. Maya was a little surprised when the flight attendant referred to her father as “Mr. Robertson” instead of “Mr. Welsh.” She later checked his passport when he went to the washroom and discovered that he went by the name Sam Robertson, and his passport was issued by the United Arab Emirates. When she confronted her father after they reached Cairo, he explained that he had not lied about his line of work, but in the past, he had had sketchy clients, and it was simply a smart choice to use an alternate identity while doing business with them. Sam laundered money for them through real estate, and his clients were often from war-torn countries. Maya rightfully guessed that his clients used the money to buy information, influence, and even weapons. According to Sam, he never worked with dictators or terrorists; instead, he supported Kurds in Syria, backed LGBT activists in Russia, and even helped fund Arab Spring. Naturally, he had enemies because of it, and he had no choice but to adopt a false identity. 

Things took a quick turn when Maya received a call from her father when she was at a restaurant. He advised her to leave immediately and meet him at a cafe. On her way out, she came across the police, who raided the restaurant. She’d gathered that her father was in trouble, and all she wanted was clear answers from him. At the cafe, her father’s trusted partner, Khalil, showed up and informed her that Sam had been kidnapped by a gang and he’d been sent to protect her. He took her to a shady hotel to hide from the police. She received a call from her father, and he confessed that he was not yet done with his old life. The kidnappers wanted something that he possessed, and only his daughter could help him with it. Maya had her father’s tablet, and he had marked a location on his calendar, and he asked her to go to the spot and collect an item. He added that she would know where to go next after she made it to the spot. Maya was confused and scared. She contacted the US embassy and reached the establishment the next morning to discuss her situation. She did not know what to do, and blindly trusting her father was not her first instinct. Khalil followed her to the embassy and requested her to help Sam. The US embassy was working with the police who were after her father, and he did not think they could help her. Maya realized that the only way she could save her father was by following his instructions. She went to the spot he’d asked her to, and she was handed bank details and a key to a safe. The bank slip was made out to Rajar Singh, and the bank was located in Delhi. Maya had to travel to India to find the next clue. 

What happened in India?

Maya could either return home or make the trip to India. Jess was against her sister traveling to India; she could already sense something was totally wrong with the whole arrangement. When she stated that Maya was not up for it, Maya took it as a personal challenge. She wanted to prove that she could handle such a messy situation all by herself, and she was not afraid of whatever was awaiting her in India. Immediately after arriving in India, Maya went to the bank to collect whatever was in the safe. She did not expect to find a hard drive there, and she knew instantly that the kidnapping was to gather secret information. That night, she searched up “Rajar Singh” on the internet and came across a news article stating that he was a twenty-four-year-old computer hacker who’d been shot by police during a chase through the Karol Bagh neighborhood. Apparently, Singh had collected secret information from India and abroad. He had stolen classified U.S. military information and was wanted by Interpol. Maya was shocked to discover that her father was Singh’s foreign associate and the Indian police as well as Interpol were looking for him. Maya ended up arriving at the location where she was supposed to hand over the hard drive. She demanded to speak to her father before she completed the transaction. Sam informed her via a video call that he was released and was doing fine. Just when Maya was about to hand the hard drive to a man who claimed to be from the gang, the police showed up.

Maya managed to escape, and she received a call from the gang; they asked her to travel to Mumbai to hand over the drive. She followed the instructions and managed to make it to the train station after an intense chase. The police were after her, but she somehow successfully escaped. Even though the kidnappers had asked her to get rid of her phone, she did not. When she turned her phone on, Erika Papp from Interpol contacted her. She advised Maya to meet her at the US Embassy and added that she had stolen US government property. If Maya agreed to assist, she would not be penalized. Erika informed Maya that her father was mixed up with North Korea, among other parties. She added that Sam had used Maya to get the hard drive from India because he knew he would be arrested if he tried to set foot in the country. Maya was heartbroken when she learned that her father had not been kidnapped; he’d flown out from Egypt in a private jet. He had faked a kidnapping to convince Maya to do the job. Maya felt betrayed; she was not ready to cooperate with Interpol, but at the same time, she had lost what little respect she had left for her father. She went through Sam’s tablet and discovered that he had opened an account in a bank in South Korea, and she also learned that he had an apartment there. Driven by curiosity, Maya chose to fly to South Korea to uncover more about her father.

What secret was Sam hiding from Maya in Seoul?

Maya stole her co-passenger’s passport to fly to Seoul, and luckily she was not questioned. When Maya arrived at the address, she saw a woman and a little girl leave. She followed them to a restaurant and overheard the little girl refer to Sam as ‘daddy.’ Maya felt immensely betrayed. Her father had never disclosed that he had a family in South Korea, and he simply used her to get what he wanted. She was disappointed in herself; she could not believe that she’d allowed her father to manipulate her again. Maya wanted to trust him; she yearned for her father’s affection; after all, he was the only parent she had left. Her emotions got the best of her, and she failed to realize that her father was a cunning man who used the most vulnerable moment of her life to take advantage of her. When she confronted him over the call, Sam admitted that he had used her to make the transfer since he could not risk going to India. He apologized, stating that he did what he had to to protect himself. Sam knew how Maya craved his love, and he tried to win her over by saying that he chose her for the task because he knew she was smart enough to figure it all out. Maya refused to listen to him anymore, and she disconnected the call. That night she went to a Buddhist monastery, and something dawned on her—to help others is to help oneself. She’d tried to help her father, but she got fooled instead; she was not ready to end the chapter there; she had to help herself, but how? That’s revealed at the very end of the film.

What happened to the hard drive?

Sam contacted Maya again, and this time he was ready to pay her to ensure that she handed him the hard drive. He wanted to be the caring father who was willing to transfer a huge amount of money to make up for his absence; in reality, he was simply trying to carve a deal that would benefit him. Maya saw through his act, and it became difficult to negotiate. Maya went through the contents of the hard drive and discovered Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) on it. Interpol was after him because the information could lead to a global crisis, but Sam did not care as long as he made money.

During Inheritance’s ending, Maya asked her father to meet her at Hangang Bridge. Sam felt he was close to the end of the deal; his daughter had brought him the hard drive, and in exchange, he offered her money. He wanted to believe that, whatever he did, he did so for his family and also for Maya. He added that everyone did things for their own interest, and he was no different. She knew he did not care about her, and he was simply lying to protect himself. Maya threatened to drop the hard drive in the river; she added that she did not accept her father’s proposal for money; she did so because she wanted his affection. Sam admitted that he’d messed up, but his love for his daughter was pure, and he deeply cared about her. Maya dropped the hard drive; she wanted to know if her father would love her even if she acted against his interest. And just like she had expected, Sam slapped Maya across her face and walked away. This was her only way to know the truth, to not second-guess herself ever again. Maya returned home to the United States, and she was questioned by Interpol. Erika was already aware that Maya had dropped the hard drive in the Han River. Erika was relieved that the drive did not reach the wrong people, but she thought Maya was a fool just like her father to destroy the hard drive that carried millions of dollars in digital currency. Maya returned to her old apartment; she took a long whiff of her mother’s clothes and broke down. She thought her mother’s death did not affect her, but she was wrong. It took her some time to process her emotions, and she realized that she deeply missed her mother. 

In Inheritance’s ending, Jess arrived at Maya’s apartment and handed her a parcel that was sent to her address from Seoul. Maya explained that she had couriered an item she liked during her time there. Jess was not entirely convinced. She opened the package and found a hard drive in it. The ending suggests that Maya had parceled the original drive to her sister, and she came up with a fake one to trick her father and Interpol. Maya was not the fool that everyone assumed she was. Instead, she knew exactly what she was doing. She plugged in the hard drive and transferred the money to her account. Maya had rightfully claimed her inheritance, and in an attempt to help her father, she’d successfully helped herself.

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