One Day ending explained: Dexter and Emma's love story comes to a heartbreaking end in episode 14

A grieving Dexter doesn't know how to go on without Emma and sinks deeper into his anguish in One Day episode 14. Unable to contemplate the future, Dexter relives his memories of Emma and gets a visit from some familiar faces.

Here's everything that happened in One Day episode 14...

22 December 1988

The episode opens back in time to the first Christmas Emma and Dexter spent together in December, 1988. They lie on the floor and Emma reads Dexter a passage from Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles."

She reads to him: “She philosophically noted dates as they came past in the revolution of the year;... her own birthday and every other day, individualized by incidents in which she had taken some share. She suddenly thought one afternoon that there was yet another date of greater importance, her own death... A day which lay sly and unseen among all other days of the year... but not the less surely there. When was it?”

Emma asks Dexter if he understands the paragraph, and he explains that everyone has a birthday and a death day. Emma gives the book to him as a Christmas present with a personal message inside.

Dexter's mum, Alison calls them in for dinner and he thanks Emma for the gift, giving her a kiss on the cheek. 

15 July 2003

Back in the present, Dexter is completely distraught by Emma's death and is spiralling out of control. He turns to alcohol to numb the pain and is seen drinking and dancing at a children's birthday party, while the parents watch him with concern.

He drops Jasmine back home to Sylvie after the party and she instantly knows he's been drinking. Guiltily, she tells him: "It's my fault. Today was not the day," hinting that it's been a year since Emma died.

Hiding his anguish, Dexter tells her "it's just a day" and Sylvie invites him inside, clearly concerned about his wellbeing. He refuses and goes to a pub to drown his sorrows but gets into an altercation with another man and leaves. 

Dexter stumbles along the streets and walks in front of a taxi, before going into a strip club. He talks about his grief and how Emma died with a stripper, but when he notices she's on her phone and clearly not listening to his troubles, he angrily knocks it out of her hand.

Dexter is dragged out by a security guard and he hallucinates Emma watching him from the bar. He's thrown out of the club and is beaten up by the bouncers, leaving him in a critical state.

A battered Dexter ends up at Sylvie's house and is barely conscious on her floor. She cleans him up in the bath and is heard having an argument with Callum about how he doesn't have any interest in Jasmine.

Dexter's dad, Stephen, drives him back home to look after him. As Dexter wanders around the house, he's flooded by memories of Emma and replays their time together at Christmas.

Stephen encourages Dexter to try and live his life as if Emma was still here and that he's been trying to do the same since Dexter's mum died ten years ago. After their talk, Dexter goes to his bedroom and sobs, unable to cope with his sorrow any longer.

15 July 2004

Two years since Emma died, Tilly, Sylvie, Stephen and Ian pay Dexter a surprise visit, saying that he shouldn't be alone on this day.

Despite the awkward silences and not knowing what to say, they try their best to cheer Dexter up, with Graham asking silly questions and joking around with Dexter.

Outside, Ian and Dexter have a surprising heart-to-heart about Emma, where he admits his long-held resentment towards him because Emma loved him so much.

"Emma, she loved you so much. Yeah. You couldn't argue with it. You made her so happy. Which was annoying. Not really," Ian says.

Ian urges him not to give up and Dexter is touched when he finds out that Ian travelled three hours to be there.

As everyone leaves, Dexter tells Sylvie that he's sorry to hear that she and Callum are no longer together. There's no hard feelings though as they joke around with each other about the situation.

Once alone, Dexter pours himself a drink and goes into a room with boxes of Emma's things. He imagines Emma sitting beside him, having a conversation as if she were still there. 

She reassures him that it's okay if he wanted to get rid of her belongings, but tells him to keep the photos. She goes on to say that it won't always be like this, but Dexter is doubtful, saying to her: "Why wouldn't it? What's going to change it?"

"Time," she tells him.

15 July 2007

Dexter starts to slowly heal from Emma's tragic death and revisits old memories. He goes back to the University of Edinburgh grounds where he first met Emma and visits her old flat. 

In a full circle moment, he brings his daughter, Jasmine to Arthur’s Seat and they climb to the top. 

As they walk up, he remembers Emma playfully teasing him to catch up when they first climbed the hill in 1988. At the top, Dexter points out where he met Emma to Jasmine, also thinking about when they lay together at the top and spoke about St. Swithin's Day.

On their way down, Dexter is reminded of when Emma told him she had a fun time, but she didn’t want to have another fling or stay in touch.

"I don't want to get married or have your babies either, and I don't want to have another fling. We had one really nice night together, and that's all. I'll always remember it," she said.

They agreed to be friends and she told him that she wouldn't be a "footnote" in the story of his life. In the present time with Jasmine, he retraces the steps he ran when he told Emma in 1988 that he wanted to see her again.

The series ends where it began with Emma and Dexter saying bye to each other in 1988 before he turns around and kisses her. A montage of all the kisses they shared on July 15 over the years play at the end, concluding their beautiful love story.

One Day is available to stream worldwide on Netflix.