Maya explains her reluctance to share her last name, noting she stayed out of April’s online content deliberately and resents how her privacy has eroded. She reveals she grew up wealthy in a Manhattan townhouse where she planted vegetables with her mother as a child.

Months after April’s disappearance, Maya calls her mother, insisting April must still be alive. Her mother suggests she plant something to clear her head. Maya visits her parents’ home, and together they plant potatoes in a pot. Her mother tells Maya she is exactly as troubled as she should be, which makes Maya cry.

Maya reflects on the inherent tension of growing up as a Black girl from a privileged background who pursued unfulfilling design work before the Carls arrived. On the Som, a social media platform she helped build for solving Dream sequences revealed to humans in their sleep by the Carls in the previous novel, she’s earned the respect of her peers as her online alter ego, ThePurrletarian. Online, Maya reads posts linking dolphin deaths in the Delaware River near Trenton to lab break-ins moving south along the coast. At dinner, her father, Gill, suggests she suffers from Dream addiction and sees patterns where none exist. Maya’s parents believe April is dead and want Maya to return to work. Furious, Maya slams the table, shouts that April is not dead, and announces she will go find her in New Jersey. She leaves with the pot of planted potatoes.

Five months after April is presumed murdered, Andy hears a knock on his door and receives a text from April’s number that says “Knock Knock.” He finds a book titled The Book of Good Times in his hallway and frantically texts April but receives no reply.

The world has entered a quiet malaise after the Carls vanished. Reality games mimicking the Dream’s puzzles have become popular. Andy considers the book might be part of such a game but fears creating false hope in his friends.

He opens the book, which begins on the first page with instructions not to tell anyone. It tells him a young woman is alive and safe with a robot, but unwell and mostly asleep. The book demonstrates knowledge of Andy’s thoughts and actions, quoting his tweets and referencing his past choices. It instructs him to buy a specific sandwich at Subway.

Andy walks to Subway, passing a plaque marking where the New York Carl stood. A stranger photographs him. At Subway, he orders from a woman with a nametag that says: Becky. He asks if anyone has inquired about him; she says no. He walks to Tompkins Square Park to eat his sandwich and finds a second book in a trash can titled The Book of Good Times: Part 2.

Miranda sees a Reddit post showing Andy looking sad at the New York Carl plaque. She texts their group about it. Maya sends a link to a magazine profile on Peter Petrawicki.

Miranda reads the article, which describes Peter’s new life in Puerto Rico. He expresses regret about the culture war he helped create but does not directly apologize. The article reveals he has launched a billion-dollar research project with a large compound and laboratories, hiring top scientists in neurophysiology, cellular neuroscience, quantum computing, biomedical engineering, and related fields.

Miranda has returned to Berkeley to finish her PhD in materials science, working on organic semiconductor gels for implantation in living bodies. She feels her research has become meaningless after April’s death. Reading the list of specialists Peter hired, Miranda deduces his service is a high-bandwidth brain-computer interface, potentially years ahead of her own work. This realization creates persistent anxiety.

Andy opens the second book, which directs him to a bathroom in Tompkins Square Park. Inside, the book tells him it has provided two tickets to the percussion performance, STOMP, and instructs him to invite someone to attend with him.

Andy realizes he has no friends in New York except his roommate, Jason. He returns to Subway and asks Becky to attend STOMP with him. She agrees and tells him to call her Bex. After the show, Bex invites him for drinks. From their conversation, Andy learns about her Trinidadian and Chinese heritage. He shares his anxieties about fame, his constant worry that he lacks original thoughts, and his isolation.

After walking Bex to the subway, Andy reads the next page. The book gives two instructions: purchase $100,000 dollars of stock in IGRI and sell in four days and tell Miranda she has to do it when she calls.

Maya begins investigating in Trenton, New Jersey, driven to prove her parents wrong. She poses as a book researcher to learn about dead dolphins from the New Jersey Animal Health Diagnostic Lab. The dolphins starved, apparently too frightened of something downstream to return to the ocean.

She rents a cabin near Wolton, a town experiencing severe Internet outages from Carson Communications. At the Dream Bean coffee shop, owner Derek Housen complains about the unreliable Internet. Maya begins tracking Carson repair trucks, hoping to find patterns in the outages. On her first day, she follows a truck to Cowtown, a large flea market, and discovers the technicians are independent contractors.

After weeks of tracking, Maya feels discouraged. Her investigation method involves mapping system-wide cable failures, but no clear pattern emerges.

Miranda visits her advisor, Dr. Constance Lundgren, about the Peter Petrawicki article. Dr. Lundgren reveals she was offered a position at Peter’s lab but refused upon learning of his involvement.

Dr. Lundgren agrees the lab is working on the human mind and is far ahead of academic research. She expresses concern the project is moving too fast, is unsafe, and is driven by vanity rather than careful science. She admits she has struggled against similar ambition in herself.

Dr. Lundgren tries to redirect Miranda’s focus to her PhD work and encourages her to socialize more with her lab mates. Miranda privately resolves to continue investigating the lab. She feels her research is meaningless compared to what Peter’s team is likely accomplishing.

Andy considers the ways his career has benefited from April’s death, and he feels conflicted. He decides to follow the book’s instructions and invests $100,000 dollars in IGRI stock. He texts Bex and travels to Cannes, France, for a speaking engagement on the anniversary of the Carls’ arrival.

Struggling with his speech topic, Andy watches YouTube videos for inspiration, including one from an anonymous channel called The Thread. Inspired, he records a video about the cognitive and societal burden of the Carls’ existence and sends it to Jason for editing.

Andy and Jason discuss The Thread’s anonymity, which allows them to discuss controversial subjects without personal attacks. They note a copycat channel called Common Dissent has appeared with the same strategy. They discuss how arguments in comment sections are partly waged by artificial intelligence programs pretending to be human.

On the anniversary of April’s first video, Maya has her recurring nightmare about finding April’s eyes in rubble. After weeks of fruitless truck-following, she takes the day off. At the Dream Bean, Derek suggests she visit Cowtown. She reads on the Som that Peter’s project is now named Altus.

At Cowtown, Maya buys a vintage red dress after texting a photo to Miranda for encouragement. She spots the cable contractor selling crystals and rocks. She picks up a strange white rock that is unnaturally light and cool. The vendor becomes hostile and racist, refusing to sell to her or answer questions. Upset, Maya cries in a dressing room.

After watching Andy’s anniversary video, she feels better and resolves to acquire the rocks. Maya asks Clara, the vintage-dress vendor, to purchase them for her. Clara succeeds, buying four rocks for $180 and obtaining the vendor’s business card. The vendor claimed his brother-in-law supplied the rocks and expressed interest in acquiring more.

Maya briefly reflects on a mass shooting that occurred that evening, noting the book will not dwell on the shooter’s motivations.

Andy reflects on reading books by pastors and community organizers to improve his public guidance. Robin meets him at the Cannes airport. Andy tells Robin about his date with Bex. When Andy asks about Robin’s dating life, Robin becomes evasive, saying it’s complicated.

Robin explains they are visiting the yacht of Redstone’s CEO before Andy’s speech. On the yacht, Andy meets various executives and recording artist Gwen Stefani, one of April’s favorite singers. Upset, Andy rushes outside. Robin follows, and they have an emotional breakthrough. Robin confesses lingering guilt over April’s death. Andy reassures him it was not his fault. They spend the afternoon exploring Cannes together.

Before his speech, Robin tells Andy he deserves to be there. Andy warns the wealthy audience that the world’s instability will worsen and urges them to work toward stability. An investor named Stewart Patrick gives Andy his business card.

In a bathroom, Andy checks his phone and discovers his IGRI investment is now worth over $1 million after an acquisition. Miranda calls.

Miranda is consumed with anxiety about Altus, both because Peter is succeeding in his endeavors and because their work threatens to make her research obsolete. On the anniversary of the Carls’ arrival, she examines Altus job postings and finds one for which she is qualified.

She scrubs her social media of all references to April, and the Som. Miranda reflects on her impostor syndrome within April’s group and her insecurities about her identity and sexuality. Before submitting the application, she calls Andy, hoping he will discourage her.

Andy tells her about his date with Bex. Miranda explains her plan to infiltrate Altus. To her surprise, Andy tells her she must go, citing a gut feeling that something strange is happening, possibly involving April. Encouraged, Miranda submits her application.

Maya sits to examine the rocks and eat a hot sausage sandwich. A man approaches, identifying her from April’s videos—a claim Maya knows is false since she never appeared in any of April’s videos. He reveals he plays a reality game called Fish and was instructed to acquire whatever she bought at Cowtown. He offers up to $10,000 for her purchase. When Maya refuses, he becomes aggressive and reaches for her bag. Maya throws her sandwich at him and flees into the market.

Another man inside also identifies her and asks what she purchased. Maya escapes to her truck and drives away.

Andy feels guilty for encouraging Miranda but recognizes he followed the book’s directive. He opens the next section, which lays out a two-week trading plan designed to increase his net worth to $125 million. The book acknowledges they’re engaging in illegal insider trading but claims it isn’t wrong in this case. It advises Andy to spend the coming weeks thinking, listening, and reconnecting with friends. It tells him to wait two weeks before reading the next page but does not reveal April’s location.

Frustrated, Andy immediately turns the page. The new page scolds him for not waiting and says April will be okay but he must wait. He throws the book against the wall and hides it under his mattress. He struggles to keep the secret from Robin.

Jason confronts Andy about his strange behavior. Andy lies and says money stresses him. Andy invites Bex over for game night with Jason. During a word game, Bex calls out Andy and Jason for repeating talking points from The Thread. After Jason goes to bed, Bex asks Andy to kiss her good night, and he does.