“People We Meet On Vacation” was one of the best romcoms in the past couple of years, even if some of the plot points felt rushed.
Netflix’s book to movie adaptation of Emily Henry’s “People We Meet On Vacation” was pushed out onto the streaming service on January 9, 2026.
The playful romantic comedy, or romcom, centers its story around Poppy Wright (Emily Bader) and Alex Nilsen (Tom Blyth) and follows the story of their relationship, which spans over the course of nine years.
There are two stories playing out at the same time: present day Poppy and Alex, and their history. Each progresses side-by-side throughout the movie.
The movie begins with Poppy getting a call from her friend – and Alex’s brother – David, who is getting married that weekend, but Poppy is reluctant to attend because Alex will be there.
The movie then cuts to the very beginning of their story and progresses both in the past and present at the same time.
The two friends meet when Alex has volunteered to give Poppy a ride back to their hometown of Linfield, Ohio from Boston University, where they both attend college. The trip brings a shared love of travel to light between the two of them and they decide that every summer afterwards they will meet somewhere in the world for their yearly vacations.
Poppy and Alex travel all over the world from places like New Orleans to Tuscany with many of these scenes having actually been filmed on location – meaning the cast and crew traveled the world to get to these spots to film.
Alex and Poppy’s friendship only strengthens over time and eventually seems like it could turn into more. However, one of them always happens to be in a relationship, and one summer Alex ends up engaged which ultimately adds a degree of separation between the two and brings their annual summer trips to an apparent end.
After a couple of years of not having seen each other, the two are both at David’s wedding in Barcelona.
Poppy and Alex have a rather untimely reunion in the airport after their flights have arrived, and Alex ultimately ends up giving Poppy a ride to where she is staying and helps her to get settled in.
Over the course of the weekend away in Barcelona, there is a reignition of the feelings that lay dormant between Poppy and Alex and love fills the air. Despite this, their weekend away ultimately comes to an end and they are thrust back into the real world with their real lives outside of Barcelona.
Poppy and Alex must work out what their relationship will look like outside of this weekend – if there is one to be had.
As mentioned prior in the article, “People We Meet on Vacation”’ is a book to movie adaptation of the novel by Emily Henry. As what can happen with many adaptations of books, this film felt rushed at times, with some plot points not feeling fully fleshed out. Which caused some of the book lovers to feel a bit underwhelmed by the film.
Despite this, People We Meet on Vacation has been met with many reviews – a majority of which have been positive.
At the end of the day, People We Meet on Vacation was a refreshing breath of fresh air in the world of film. It seems to be one of the better romcoms that has been released in the past few years.