This article contains spoilers for A Nearly Normal Family episode 1.
A Nearly Normal Family is a Nordic family drama that's now streaming on Netflix. The series introduces us to the Sandell family (Adam, Ulrika, and their daughter, Stella). On the surface, they appear to lead a perfect, happy life together.
By the end of the first episode, though, that facade has been shattered. Just a few weeks after meeting a charming businessman on a wild night out, Stella finds herself accused of killing the very same man.
Looking for other Netflix series? Check out What To Watch's recommendations for the best Netflix shows that you should be streaming. Otherwise, read on for our full breakdown of what happened in A Nearly Normal Family episode 1...
A shocking revelation
A Nearly Normal Family begins with Ulrika and Adam seeing their 15-year-old daughter, Stella, off on a school trip. She climbs onto the coach to sit next to her best friend, Amina, who begins telling her all about her plans for their downtime. However, Stella is distracted by the sight of their new assistant handball coach, Robin.
After a match, Amina asks her to come back to their room and finish watching a horror movie, but Stella is determined to get Robin's attention. So, she stops the coach in his tracks and invites him to go swimming, away from the rest of the team.
We join them as they're getting out of the water. Concerned someone might spot them together, the pair ducked into a nearby boathouse. Out of sight, Robin and Stella kissed. He spotted a bed and forced her towards it; she told him to stop, but he refused and proceed to rape her, and the attack was only interrupted when the owner of the boathouse furiously demanded to know what was going on.
Adam arrives to take his daughter away. He angrily asks what she thought she was doing, but he softens his approach when Stella tells him she had tried to get Robin to stop. He pulls the car over and makes a phone call; next thing we know, Stella is being checked over by a doctor, and then Ulrika (a lawyer) is asking her to explain in the exact words or way she tried to put a stop to what happened to her.
That evening, the parents have an argument over how to proceed. Adam wants to go straight to the police, but Ulrika is convinced they won't have enough evidence to win the case. Therefore, she doesn't want to put Stella under all the pressure of an investigation, if there's no way they'll win. Eventually, the pair resolve to handle what happened in their own way.
Celebration
After the titles, we head forward in time and join the Sandells having a meal together to mark Stella's 19th birthday. She calls Amina in the bathroom to demand she help her celebrate that evening before sitting back down at the table.
Just before dessert is served, her father produces her birthday present. He hands her an envelope directing her to look outside, where she finds a bright pink moped. Stella is wholly unimpressed; she asks why they don't listen to her, as she had asked for money to go traveling.
After dinner, she heads round to Amina's house. She promises to make Stella's 19th the best birthday yet, and the pair get ready for their night out. Unfortunately, Amina barely keeps her promise; just after they get inside a nightclub, she crosses paths with two fellow students from her college and is soon so distracted by them that Stella wanders off on her own.
Outside, Stella encounters the charming man she'd previously locked eyes with in the queue to get in. Before he can leave in his car, she asks where he's headed (Copenhagen), and manages to talk him into bringing her along.
The man in question is 32-year-old entrepreneur, Christoffer Olsen. The pair hit it off at the art show he was attending, and then head out for a night of fun at another club. The following morning Christoffer drops her off back in Lund.
The Father
We then skip six weeks into the future, with Adam preparing dinner for the family. Stella is nowhere to be seen, and Ulrika tells him not to worry about where she is, or to check up on her. Ulrika then adds that she also won't be eating with him, as she's got to head to work to hit an important deadline.
Shortly after she heads out, Adam finds her university ID badge still in the house, so he leaves it out on the kitchen counter in plain sight. During his night alone, he tries to reach Stella several times on the phone, but never gets through.
In the middle of the night (and with Ulrika in bed beside him), he's woken up by a noise downstairs. Adam follows the noise to their sauna in the basement, where he finds Stella stepping out of the show. He also spots what looks like a bloodstain on a bundle of clothes she's holding.
Early the following morning, Adam wakes up to an argument between his wife and daughter; Stella can't find her phone before work, and is shouting obscenities at her mother who she says is 'always on her phone' anyway.
When he goes into the kitchen, Adam spots that his wife's badge has been moved. He walks over and embraces her from behind, but she swiftly rebuffs him and says they need to get ready to head out for a Padel match against Amina's parents.
After their game, the four head out to grab some food, but Adam gets up to leave as he has to conduct a Christening, so he leaves the three of them behind. On the drive to his church, he comes across a crowd of people gathered around an active crime scene. An onlooker tells him there's been a murder, and he approaches a police officer to assure them the church will offer help in any way they can.
The Mother
We then see the same time period from Ulrika's perspective. As you might have suspected, she wasn't at all off to work; she is having an affair with Mikael, another lawyer.
She returned home at about 1 am and climbed into bed beside Adam. She was then the first to wake up the following morning, where she spotted her badge and pocketed it, fearing Adam might be suspicious.
We then skip forward to the meal after their Padel match; Ulrika and Amina's mother are chatting about their daughters, and it becomes clear that Ulrika wishes Stella behaved and approached life like Amina, instead of "wasting opportunities".
Back home, Ulrika got a call from Mikael, but ignored it. When he called a second time, she answered, but warned him not to call like this so as to not arouse any suspicion of their affair. But he's not ringing to flirt; he tells her that Stella has been arrested for murder.
Apparently, a witness can connect her to the murder of... Christoffer Olsen. Ulrika asks Mikael to defend her daughter, before heading straight into Stella's bedroom to look for anything incriminating.
Just as she starts to see police cars on the way to her home, Ulrika finds a bag of bloodied clothes stashed underneath Stella's bed. She snatches them up and stashes them in her handbag, before speaking the police officers outside.
They explain that they're heading in to search the house, and will need both her and Adam to head down to the station. Whilst Adam is busy with the Christening and Stella's being placed in a cell, Ulrika is taken to a car... with the black handbag containing the bloody clothes on her shoulder.
A Nearly Normal Family is now streaming on Netflix.
