The film opens with a voice-over by Don, who states that in life and relationships, "anything can happen." Ann works at a camera shop in a small town in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. One day, she gets called by her boyfriend who is in Prague and gets dumped by him. Ann makes a halfhearted suicide attempt by drinking a bottle of nail polish remover. After she leaves the hospital, her psychiatrist gives her the number of a crisis help line. One evening, still distraught over being abandoned by her boyfriend, Ann calls the number and speaks with Don, who volunteers there because he finds it less depressing to talk with other depressed people about their problems than to stay at home and feel sorry for himself. They make an emotional connection, but Ann hangs up on him when Don admits that he doesn't really know what love is. Ann begins making a series of emotional video tapes addressing her ex-boyfriend about how desolated she is by him leaving her. She gives the tapes to a neighbor who works at a package delivery service to send to Prague, but the neighbor secretly opens the packages, watches the tapes, and becomes infatuated with Ann. In an apparent coincidence some time after they spoke on the phone, Don walks into the camera shop where Ann works and buys a camera for his work as a real estate agent. Ann makes a comment about happiness being "unfair" that is similar to something she said to Don when she called the help line. He realizes who she is but does not say anything. Attracted to Ann, Don waits for her to finish work and approaches her. She invites him to help her do her wash at a local laundromat. They talk and she invites him to come to her house in a couple of days. Don comes over, and they have sex. Ann secretly tapes this encounter with the intention of sending the tape to her ex-boyfriend. After their encounter, Ann ducks Don's calls. A couple of days later, Don is asked by the police to persuade a man who he had been counseling to come out of a hotel room where he has a gun. Don talks to the man and prevents him from killing himself but is badly injured when the gun goes off. When Ann hears about what has happened, she rushes to the hospital and stays until Don is out of danger. Ann's ex-boyfriend calls to say he wants to get back together. Ann hastily packs and leaves town without leaving word to Don or her ex-boyfriend. Don goes home from the hospital and begins traveling frequently in his job as a real estate agent. The film ends with Don musing about what he would tell Ann if he saw her while he sits on a park bench. A woman walks by, looks at him, sits down, and smiles at him. He looks up and sees it is Ann. Before the credits roll, we hear a voice-over of Don saying again, "Anything can happen."
Things I Never Told You received generally positive reviews from film critics. As of March 2013, review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes has scored a 79% rating, with an average rating of 3.9 out of 5, based on 322 reviews. The film has won 8 awards:
