True events inspire Rosemead. The story is about a mother, Irene, and her son Joe. A long time ago, Joe’s father died because of an illness. After the loss of his father, who was an excellent student and athlete, Joe developed schizophrenia. During this time, Irene also has terminal cancer, which Joe is unaware of. For the most part, Joe’s friends, Irene’s friends, the school, and the therapist understand Irene and Joe’s situation.
However, Joe slowly stops/reduces the dosage of his pills as they do not make him feel attentive. This means the voices in Joe’s head or the hallucinations become more frequent, making Joe paranoid. To add to this mess, Irene is not getting any better. It’s the story of how the mother and son navigate illness and loss of their loved ones while trying to live normally in society.
This article contains spoilers.
Rosemead (2026) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
The film opens with a shot of Sunset Hills Motel; inside one of the rooms, a family, Charles (father), Joe (Son), and Irene (mother) are singing and dancing, having a fun family time. Currently, Irene has a successful printing shop. One of the neighbouring shop owners, Kai-Li, is helping Irene with the paper displays. After Kai-Li leaves, Irene takes medication for cancer as she is terminally ill.
At school, Joe notices his classmates cheating on a test. One of the students asks Joe for help. When Joe shows his paper, creepy spider drawings are on it. As Joe walks in the school corridor, he hears voices in his head. Later, Irene picks Joe up from school to take him to the family centre. There, Irene tells Joe that Jeannie is a nice girl and urges him to go out with her, as Jeannie has invited him to a party.
Where does Joe take his friends?
However, Joe says it’s not a date as their mutual friends will be there. The reason Joe is at the family centre for counselling is because of his schizophrenia. As Irene waits, she stops to grab a bite. After the session, Dr. Hsu meets with Irene and asks her to sit in on the sessions, as it will help Joe feel accepted.
However, Irene gets offended and tells Dr. Hsu that Joe is her son and that she accepts him. That night, Irene gives Joe two pills for schizophrenia before he heads out with his friends. After Joe leaves, Irene calls her doctor to reschedule the cancer treatment for that night, as it’s safer because Joe does not know how seriously ill Irene is.
In the car, Jeannie and Joe talk, and Jeannie says she is bored with the same old parties. So, Joe says he loves water, the ocean, and even a pool. So, Jeannie is excited, so Joe asks Jeannie if she would like to go swimming. So, the plan changes to a pool party. The group enters the school, and Joe has the keys to the swimming area. While the others are in the pool drinking, Joe is sitting outside.
The friends urge Joe to get in. When Joe does, he sees Charles calling out to him. Paranoid, Joe runs away from school. Meanwhile, Irene gets treatment for cancer. After running, Joe reaches the Sunset Hills Motel, the same room we saw in the first scene. Outside, Joe leans on the door. The owner thinks Joe is a creep and asks him to leave.
Is Irene’s treatment working?
Once home, Irene lies to Joe that she was home all night; however, Joe suspects something is off. So, Joe starts checking the cabinet to find Irene’s medication, but instead, he finds a tissue with blood in the dustbin. The next day, Jeannie’s mom, Helen, invites Irene and Joe to her niece’s one-month-old party.
Through the conversation, Helen enquires about Joe’s mental well-being, but Irene brushes it off as pressure about school and swimming. Later, Irene visits her doctor, who says Irene needs to come in again for a final cycle of the experimental cancer treatment. So, Irene thinks she is getting better because the treatment will be stopped. The doctor reminds Irene that the chances the treatment will work are about 20%.
When Irene gets home, the fire alarm is blaring as Joe has gone to bed, forgetting to turn off the stove. While cleaning the room, Irene notices Joe has broken his iPad. The next morning, Joe is engrossed listening to the school shooting news on the radio. When Irene changes the station, Joe talks about the school shooting and how kids were killed.
However, Irene does not want to have such conversations. When the music starts, Joe turns the volume to max. Later, Irene visits Kai-Li’s shop and says she is thinking about selling the printing shop to start a college fund for Joe. Furthermore, when Kai-Li looks at the doctor’s report, she becomes grim, so Kai-Li asks Irene to tell Joe about her treatment, but Irene refuses. After that, Irene attends Joe’s therapy session with Dr.Hsu.
What happens during the shooting drill in school?
In this session, Dr. Hsu helps Joe find a happy memory and hold on to it. The happy memory Joe remembers is in the Sunset Hills Motel. When Joe does not remember why they were there, Irene says they wanted to stay at a family’s house, but Charles insisted on staying at the Motel. During the stay, Charles bought Joe some candy.
Now, Joe remembers Charles being goofy when he danced, but the family was happy. After the session, Irene takes Joe to the beach, and they have a good day. The next day, there is a shooting drill at school. Once the drill is over, Joe runs out panicked into a hallway. There, Joe starts to hear Irene. Seeing Joe run out, Jeannie follows.
In the hallway, Jeannie finds Joe’s coat, and inside the pocket is a drawing of the school layout. As Jeannie looks at this, she hears Joe screaming and fighting someone in a classroom. However, there is no one there. Later, Irene and Joe visit Helen’s niece’s party. Some women whisper about seeing Joe in the family centre.
So, Irene shuts them up, saying Joe is interested in psychology and wants to volunteer. Meanwhile, Jeannie takes Joe to her room, where another friend is waiting. Now, they ask Joe what happened to him in school. So, Joe says bullshit gets to him sometimes, and his friends understand, saying they have weird coping mechanisms as well. At home, Joe does not want to take his pills, so instead of two, he takes one when Irene is not looking.
What does Irene find in Joe’s room?
The next day, Irene is called to school as Jeannie had told the principal about Joe’s incident. The teachers show Irene footage of the incident during the drill and say Joe sneaks into the pool area every night. However, Joe’s teacher has given him the keys to practice swimming. The teachers recommend that Joe transfer to a school nearby that specialises in helping kids with behavioural issues. This makes Irene mad. During dinner, Joe insists that he heard Irene in the hallway.
So, Irene tells Joe that when something happens, and it doesn’t make sense, Joe needs to use his head. This makes Joe angry. While cleaning Joe’s room, Irene notices creepy drawings Joe has made. In Joe’s computer, Irene finds a website for some shoes, and the alarming thing is Joe’s research on all the school shootings. One website is about gun sales; seeing this, Irene gets worried.
Meanwhile, Joe puts up a post about how the pills make him lose vigilance. After that, Joe, with a high volume, listens to news about the school shootings. The next day, Irene visits a nearby gun store to ask if Joe had ever visited. The owner does not recall seeing Joe. Now, Irene lies, saying Joe goes to the shooting range and wanted to give him a gun.
Before leaving, Irene asks the owner to call her if Joe ever visits the store. In therapy, Dr. Hsu asks Joe if he has any memories of spiders. Now, Joe reveals that on the night Charles died, there was a spider infestation at their home. When Joe saw Charles collapse, he felt spiders creeping up all over him. After the session, Irene shows Dr.Hsu the websites Joe has been looking at, as she is worried Joe may harm someone.
Where is Joe?
However, Dr.Hsu assures Irene that patients with schizophrenia are rarely violent. In the store, Irene gives Joe medication, a customer walks in, and Joe spits the pills out. In Irene’s purse, Joe finds another medication bottle and a poster for a store sale. Immediately, Joe runs out of the store. That night, the police called Irene as they had caught Joe jaywalking. There is also a member of the psychiatric emergency team at the station who tells Irene that Joe will be turning 18 soon, which means he will be of legal age.
Hence, Irene needs to start looking at facilities that can help Joe. As they are leaving, Dr.Hsu arrives, saying the police called him. Now, Dr. Hsu tells Irene that if the school and Dr. Hsu himself can monitor Joe, it will be beneficial. However, Irene does not want any help, even though Joe’s brain chemistry is changing. So, Dr. Hsu tries to talk to Joe, who asks Dr. Hsu to stay away from them.
That night, Joe sneaks into the printing shop to stand guard against anyone who might try to take the store from them. Suddenly, Joe is fighting someone. After a while, Joe runs out the back door, back home. The next day, Irene notices a cut on Joe’s hands. When Irene asks Joe about it, he does not respond. However, there are blood drops everywhere, so Irene follows the trail that leads to a soiled pot. Inside is Joe’s coat with a bloodied pair of scissors, which Irene takes and throws away.
At home, Irene realises Joe is not taking his pills. The next day, Irene visits the shop to realise what a mess it is because of Joe’s actions. When Irene gets home, Joe is not home. So, Irene looks everywhere for Joe, but no one has seen him. Meanwhile, Jeannie and a friend look for Joe in school and find him in the gym. When Jeannie tries to get Joe out, he runs away.
Rosemead (2026) Movie Ending Explained:
Now, Irene puts up mission person posters across town. One day, the gun shop owner calls Irene, saying Joe had visited and was looking at a gas mask. Now, Irene’s doctor tells her that she only has a couple of months to live, and she needs to get things in order. So, Irene visits the gun shop owner to chat about something, then Kai-Li, handing over some papers and saying the money from the store is all hers, and that when Joe needs it, Kai-Li can give it to him.
One night, Irene gets a call that Joe has been seen at the Sunset Hills Motel. When Irene gets there, she sees Joe near the garbage bins. It’s Joe’s 18th birthday, so Irene starts the day by giving him his medication. In the morning, Irene sees Joe looking at old family photographs. Now, Joe confesses that he knows Irene is sick, but Irene promises she will be there for Joe and will always love him.
When Irene steps out to get Joe’s pills, Joe is in the basement with different knives and tools and says it’s for their enemies. Now, Irene gives Joe his pills and says they will spend the day doing things Joe likes. That night, they stayed in the Sunset Hills Motel, and they celebrated with the cake. Next, Irene gives Joe the sneakers he wanted. After that, Joe hopes they could just live in the Motel forever without the complications of the real world.
Once Joe sleeps, Irene puts the sneakers next to Joe’s feet, goes to her car, and calls Kai-Li, asking her to burn all their pictures, as she does not want anyone to remember them. Going back to the room, Irene takes out a pistol and shoots Joe twice. Comes out of the room and calls 911. In the last scene, we see Irene recalling good memories from the Motel. In the post-credits, we learn that Irene was charged with murder, but she died while awaiting trial from cancer. We see Kai-Li try to burn the pictures, but she can’t.
In the end, Irene did the unthinkable of actually killing her own son. The only reason Irene did this is that she feared what her son might do to others, especially because of his sudden obsession with school shootings. However, Irene failed to accept the help that was available to her and Joe. The psychiatric department member informed Irene that Joe could be admitted to a facility; the school offered a better option: transferring to a new school for children with behavioural issues, and friends like Kai-Li and Helen were always there to help.
It is probably an Asian upbringing and stigma around mental health that made Irene not seek out help and instead soldier through the situation. Unfortunately, this stubbornness made her do something worse, like murdering her son. In the real story, the mother spent time next to dead son for a long time before the cops arrived. Similar to the film, in real life, the mother passed away while awaiting her trial for the murder of her son. In the real story, the mother didn’t kill herself as she wanted to repent for what she did to her son.
