If you’ve seen the new Tyler Perry movie on Netflix, Straw—which started streaming today—you’ll know it ends with an unexpected plot twist that even star Taraji P. Henson didn’t anticipate.

“When I was reading it, I was like, ‘Oh, shit!’” Henson told Decider with a laugh in a recent interview.

Straw is the latest in Tyler Perry’s series of melodramatic thrillers, featuring Henson as a single mother pushed to her breaking point. (Or what one might call her final straw.) Created by Perry’s Tyler Perry Studios, the movie also includes performances by Sherri Shepherd, Teyana Taylor, Sinbad, Rockmond Dunbar, Ashley Versher, Mike Merrill, and Glynn Turman. Sinbad makes a brief appearance, adding some comic relief. Henson’s strong performance anchors the film. However, the ending of Straw takes the plot on an unexpected journey.

Read on for Decider’s breakdown of the Straw movie plot summary and the Straw movie ending explained, including that bonkers Straw plot twist.

Warning: Major Straw spoilers ahead. Duh!

Tyler Perry’s Straw movie plot summary:

Janiyah Wiltkinson (played by Taraji P. Henson) is a single mother juggling two jobs while trying to care for her young daughter, Aria, who suffers from seizures. Her daily routine starts at 6am, preparing Aria for school. We find out Aria is working on a science fair project that involves batteries and wires, though it remains vague. There’s also a moment where Aria’s need for $40 for school lunch highlights a tension, particularly when her teacher embarrasses her in front of the class for lacking the money.

While leaving for school, Janiyah gives spare change to an old man (played, inexplicably, by comedian Sinbad) outside her building. Her landlord tells her if she doesn’t pay her rent today, she’ll be evicted. Janiyah responds that she is getting paid today, and will get her the money. Janiyah drops Aria at school, and the principal looks surprised to see her. Then she goes to her job at working at a grocery store, where she is interrupted by a call from the school. It sounds like the school is threatening to call child services, because Aria has bruises from falling down in the tub. Janiyah’s hard-ass boss (Glynn Turman) reluctantly agrees to let Janiyah leave, but warns her to be back in 30 mintues or less.

At the school, Janiyah arrives just in time to see child services taking Aria away. Janiyah begs them not to, but the social worker insists Aria is in good hands. On the drive back from the school, an unmarked police car runs Janiyah off the road. The angry cop threatens to “find a legal way to kill” her. His less-crazy partner gives Janiyah a ticket.

Janiyah finally gets back to work, where her boss fires her for being gone for two hours. Janiyah asks for her final paycheck and is told that, per company policy, it will come to her in the mail. She goes home to her apartment, where she sees her landlord has evicted her and thrown her stuff in the street. She recovers her daughter’s pills and science fair project in Aria’s clear backpack. Then she returns to the grocery store to demand her final paycheck.

While arguing for her check with her boss in the back room, an armed robber confronts them and demands money. He addresses Janiyah by name, after reading her name tag. The boss gives up the money, and the robber demands Janiyah’s backpack, too. Janiyah refuses to give it up, because it has Aria’s medication. A struggle ensues that results in Janiyah getting the robber’s gun, and shooting and killing him.

Her boss believes, because the robber knew her name, that Janiyah was in on the robbery. He calls the police and reports her name. He informs Janiyah she is going to jail. Janiyah, dissociating, shoots and kills her boss, too. Then she collects the check she is owed, and goes across the street to the bank to cash it. The bank’s manager Nicole (Sherri Shepherd) lets her in, even though it’s after hours. When the bank teller refuses to cash the check without Janiyah’s ID, Janiyah pulls out the gun. Nicole sees this, and also sees Aria’s science fair project in the clear backpack. Nicole mistakes it for a bomb. Nicole reports to the police that they are being robbed by a woman with a gun and a bomb. They assume a hostage situation. The situation escalates quickly. The bank is locked down, because of the presumed bomb.

Det. Kay Raymond (Teyana Taylor) has been investigating the murder of the grocery store boss. After watching the security footage, Det. Raymond believes Janiyah was also a victim of the robbery, who just snapped. When she hears Janiyah is holding up the bank, she wants to be the one to talk to her. Janiyah delivers a moving speech to Det. Raymond about how much she has struggled as a single mother, which is secretly live-streamed by one of the bank tellers. Her speech is watched across the country, and gets the public on her side. Supporters show up outside the bank to demand the cops “Free Janiyah.”

Inside the bank, Janiyah sees footage of the outside of the bank on the national news. She sees that one of the cops outside is the same cop from earlier who threatened to “find a legal way to kill” her. She believes if she steps outside the bank, he will kill her. She tells Det. Raymond she will consider coming out and letting the hostages free if they get rid of that cop who gave her a traffic ticket. She also forms a genuine bond with the bank manager, Nicole, who seems to genuinely feel for her.

Eventually, it comes to light that Janiyah does not have a bomb. Nicole is worried the cops will storm the bank and shoot Janiyah if they knew that, and she advises Janiyah not to tell the police until she is safely escorted to custody. She also promises Janiyah that she will take care of her daughter while Janiyah is in prison. However, another bank teller writes a message on the bathroom window to let police know there is no bomb, and only one gun.

Meanwhile, Det. Raymond and her team finally locate and remove the cop who threatened to kill Janiyah. Det. Raymond tells Janiyah the cop has been removed, and Janiyah asks for proof. Det. Raymond agrees to remotely re-activate Janiyah’s cell phone (apparently, a thing they can do!) and text her a photo of the cop.

But by this point, the FBI shows up and takes over. The FBI agent is way worse at negotiating with Janiyah, and visibly upsets her. He also forbids them from turning on Janiyah’s cellphone. So Det. Raymond goes rogue. She knocks on the entrance of the bank and hands Nicole a photo of the cop. Janiyah confirms it’s the guy. She tells all the hostages they can leave. Nicole stays behind, because she wants to walk out with Janiyah to protect her from being shot.

Tyler Perry’s Straw movie plot twist:

Are you ready for the big Straw plot twist? Just before Janiyah leaves the bank, she gets a call from her mother. Her mom says the FBI is at her house. Then she drops the bomb: Janiyah’s daughter, Aria, is dead. She has been dead for this whole day. She had a seizure the night before, and was taken to the hospital, where she died.

At this point, we see flashbacks from the day, and realize that though Janiyah was going about her day as if her daughter was alive, she was actually by herself. That’s why the principal was surprised to see her at school, and why Aria’s backpack was still at home. When Janiyah got a phone call from the school at work, it was actually a call about her past-due bills. But Janiyah had already snapped, and was living in a world of her own. Her mind was protecting her from unbearable trauma. Nicole confesses that the police had already told her earlier that Aria was dead, and was thus aware that Janiyah was having a psychotic break from reality.

If you didn’t see that twist coming, neither did star Taraji P. Henson.

“Reading the script, I was blown away,” Henson told Decider in a recent interview. “But then it made sense, in her actions. Because what it showed me was that she snapped a long time ago. She snapped the day before. She was just on automatic. She wasn’t even in her body, to be quite honest. I just played the honesty of her living the life, as if nothing happened.”

Tyler Perry’s Straw movie ending explained:

Immediately after that big plot twist reveal, the police break the windows and storm the bank. When a distraught Janiyah doesn’t immediately raise her hands in the air, the cops shoot and kill her. Nicole falls to the ground, sobbing over Janiyah’s body. Wow! Pretty bleak ending, right?

Not so fast. It turns out, that was all just a fake out as to what might have happened. The movie rewinds to the moment that Janiyah realizes her daughter is dead. Instead of the police storming the bank, Janiyah takes Nicole’s hand and lets her lead her out of the building, both of them with their hands up. Det. Raymond puts Janiyah in handcuffs, and Janiyah thanks Nicole for saving her life. Janiyah’s supporters cheer as she is put into the cop car and driven away. With that, the movie ends.

Speaking to Decider, Henson revealed that, originally, Perry had intended for Janiyah to die at the end of the film. “Then [Perry] said, ‘I can’t do that to her, and the audience, because this will just kill them,’” Henson said. “So that’s why he ended it the way he did, which I thought was great.”

So instead, Perry went with the fake-out. Aria may be dead, but at least Janiyah lives.