Complete story — includes the ending
Edith explains that her family is believed to be cursed because of the untimely deaths they frequently experience. In 1937, in an effort to escape the curse after the death of his wife Ingeborg and newborn son Johann, Edith's great-great-grandfather Odin Finch emigrates from Norway to the United States. Alongside his daughter Edith (Edith Sr., or 'Edie'), her husband Sven (né Hoffstad), and their newborn daughter Molly, he ferries his family house with them. However, waves off the shore of Orcas Island capsize the house and Odin drowns. The remaining family builds a new home and accompanying graveyard nearby. Here, Edie gives birth to Barbara, twins Calvin and Sam, and Walter.
For a while, Edie believes they have left the curse behind, but unusual tragedies begin to befall her family. At 10 years old, Molly dies after ingesting fluoridated toothpaste and holly berries due to her mother's neglect; at 16, Barbara is murdered after a heated argument with her boyfriend Rick; at 11, Calvin falls to his death after swinging off the edge of a cliff; at 49, Edie's husband Sven dies during a construction accident at the house; and, at 53, after spending 30 years living in a bunker beneath the house, Walter finally decides to leave and is immediately hit by a train upon exiting. Edie memorializes each death by turning their respective bedrooms into shrines.
Sam marries a woman named Kay Carlyle, and they have three children: Dawn, Gus, and Gregory. However, Dawn is the only one to live to adulthood. At 22 months, Gregory drowns in the bathtub after being left unattended by his mother; and, at 13, Gus is crushed while flying a kite during a storm. Sam and Kay get a divorce and, at 33, whilst on a hunting trip with Dawn, Sam falls to his death after being bucked from a cliff by a deer.
Traumatized, Dawn moves to Kolkata, India, marries Sanjay Kumar, and they have three children: Lewis, Milton, and Edith (Jr.). In 2002, Sanjay dies in an earthquake and Dawn returns with her children to the Finch home. At 11 years old, Milton inexplicably disappears, and Dawn becomes paranoid. She seals off the memorialized bedrooms of the deceased and forbids her children from learning about their family history in an effort to save them from a similar fate.
In 2010, after struggling with substance abuse and mental illness, Lewis commits suicide at the age of 21, cutting his head off with the fish-cutting machine he used at work. Now desperate, Dawn decides they must all leave the house. Edie, however, refuses to go, and, after a heated argument, Dawn and Edith flee the house without her, leaving most of their possessions behind. The next day, Edie is found dead at the age of 93 after consuming alcohol alongside her prescription medication.
Seven years later, Dawn succumbs to an undisclosed illness and 17-year-old Edith inherits the property. Returning to the house, Edith discovers for herself the stories of her family's unique history, documenting her own thoughts and experiences in her journal. Edith reveals that she is pregnant (though the player can figure this out already if they look straight down) and that the journal is intended for her unborn child in case she should die before she is able to tell them the stories herself.
In the final scene, the initial player character seen on the ferry at the start of the game is revealed to be Edith's son, Christopher, Edith having died during the labor in 2017. In an unspecified time in the future, Christopher places flowers on his mother's grave.
Sources and content license
Source and revision history ↗ · Adapted from Wikipedia contributors, What Remains of Edith Finch. HTML and reference formatting removed; headings adjusted. · Content license