In the Heights(2021)

Short pooper:
Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) stays in Washington Heights and marries Vanessa (Melissa Barrera). In the end, one of the children he had been telling the story to turns out to be his own daughter, Iris (Olivia Pérez).

Long version:
Usnavi and Vanessa make up shortly after the massive power outage, during which Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz) has died, ends. Some time later, Nina (Leslie Grace) is preparing to return to Stanford -with Benny (Corey Hawkins) offering to join her- at the same time as Usnavi is getting ready to return to the Dominican Republic. Suddenly, he discovers that the lottery ticket with the $96,000 dollar prize had been in Abuela’s possession the whole time, and she had left it to him as an inheritance.

Vanessa comes along with a bottle of champagne, as a token of appreciation towards Usnavi for his help with her lease. She tries to convince him to stay and help around the “barrio”, but he seems all but determined to leave. Nonetheless, they share a kiss and she expresses her feelings for him, regretting she delayed so much in corresponding to him. In turn, Usnavi gives the lottery ticket to Don Alejandro (Mateo Gómez), who has the intention of using it to help Sonny (Gregory Díaz IV) with his DACA fees.

The next day, as Usnavi is ready to go and leave Washington Heights behind, Vanessa surreptitiously takes him to the “bodega”, where she shows him a fashion line of her creation, which was inspired by the colourful works from “Graffiti Pete” (Noah Catala) -including a mural that celebrates the life, work and massive influence of Abuela Claudia-. Moved by these actions, Usnavi has a change of heart and decides not to leave.

The story, which had been told as a flashback, returns to the beginning, with Usnavi telling it to a group of local children from Washington Heights. He remodeled the “bodega”, married Vanessa and one of the children happens to be their own daughter, Iris. The movie ends with a huge celebration in the streets, where Usnavi has finally embraced the pride of belonging to Washington Heights.

A post-credits scene shows a change of luck for both Mr. Softee (Christopher Jackson) and “El Piragüero” (Lin-Manuel Miranda), where the former’s truck has broken down, whereas the latter is doing wonderfully with his “piraguas”.