Nick reveals that he knows Theo’s true identity as Rowan Cahill, daughter of Mallory Cahill. Feeling the effects of a sedative in the tea that Rose gave her, Theo collapses. Nick restrains her with zip-ties, gags her, and, at Magnus’s command, takes her to the Dragonfly cabin’s main bedroom, telling her that she shouldn’t have returned to Idlewood.

When Theo regains consciousness, Nick removes her gag and begins explaining the past. He reveals that Magnus orchestrated both the rescue of Rowan (Theo as a child) years ago and the recent attempt on adult Theo’s life. He claims that he didn’t kill Mallory and that he did kill Liam, but it was an accident. Nick recounts that Rose called him after learning from Connor of Liam’s affair with Mallory. Nick drove up to Idlewood to confront Mallory but found her bleeding heavily from a gunshot wound. A rifle lay in the snow beside her. Liam appeared and grabbed for the rifle. The two brothers fought, and Nick struck Liam in the head with the rifle, killing him. After telling this story, Nick reiterates that he did not shoot Mallory, and Theo wonders whether he’s telling the truth and who could have done it. Daniel Vance arrives with Duchess to guard Theo.

Vance gives Theo water and explains his loyalty to Magnus. He reveals that he found young Rowan (Theo) alive after the shooting and helped her survive until Magnus discovered this and arranged her new identity. Vance implies that Rose accidentally shot Mallory and mentions that Mallory was buried where wildflowers grow.

After Vance re-gags Theo and leaves, Duchess stays and provides comfort. Theo manages to free herself by using her hidden knife to cut through the zip ties. She removes her gag and attempts to escape through a window, but it jams. When Vance returns and catches her trying to escape, he hits her. Duchess attacks Vance, allowing Theo to escape from the cabin.

Immediately after escaping, Theo flees to the Red Fox cabin, where she startles Alexis, Paloma, and Sebastian. Holding her knife for protection, Theo asks for Connor. Alexis says that he’s at the White Pine cabin, and Theo sends Paloma to get him while keeping Alexis with her.

After Paloma leaves with Sebastian, Theo tells Alexis that Nick killed Olena, mistaking her for Theo, and reveals her true identity as Mallory Cahill’s daughter. Alexis appears shocked by this revelation. When Connor arrives, Theo explains that she was drugged and captured, implicating Nick, Magnus, Louise, and Vance in the plot. She also relays Vance’s claim that Rose shot Mallory, which Connor denies. The conversation is interrupted when Alexis suddenly confesses that she killed Mallory.

In a flashback narrated by Alexis, she recounts events from when she was 15 years old. Within the flashback, teenage Alexis learns about her parents’ impending divorce due to her father Liam’s affair with Mallory Cahill. Enraged and blaming Mallory for destroying her family, she takes her mother’s car and her father’s rifle to confront Mallory.

Alexis drives up the mountain and finds Mallory packing her car. She confronts Mallory, telling her to leave the family alone. When Mallory laughs and steps toward Alexis, the startled and angry teenager accidentally pulls the trigger, shooting Mallory.

Back in the present, Alexis tearfully insists to Theo and Connor that the shooting was an accident.

Following her confession, Alexis recounts running away after shooting Mallory. She explains that Liam found her and told her to hide at Vance’s place, but Liam never returned. Magnus later fetched her and, along with Louise, told Alexis that Liam had died by suicide due to her actions.

Theo confronts Alexis about what happened to her as a child and about the current attempts on her life. Alexis tells Theo that she wasn’t aware of her existence at the time of Mallory’s death, and she denies being involved in the current plot against her. Theo and Connor decide to get an all-terrain vehicle from Vance’s cabin to escape. Before leaving, Theo tells the distraught Alexis that Liam didn’t kill himself—the family lied to her. Theo and Connor then leave Alexis behind and head into the woods.

Theo and Connor head for Vance’s cabin to find a UTV for their escape. After Connor breaks into the cabin, Theo locates the keys, and they flee in the UTV. Nick pursues them on another UTV, firing a rifle at them. His second shot hits Connor, causing their vehicle to crash down a slope.

While being thrown from the vehicle, Theo experiences a flashback to the night her mother died. In the flashback, young Theo (Rowan) sees Liam lying unconscious on the ground while Magnus arrives and finds Nick. Magnus, believing that Rowan is dead, instructs Nick to get Vance to clean this up.

Returning to the present, Theo regains awareness as Nick approaches. She feigns unconsciousness, and when Nick checks her, she stabs him. After a struggle, Theo kills Nick. Connor reaches her, wounded, and Theo bandages his arm with his scarf. She decides that they must return to the lodge to confront the remaining family members.

Standing at the base of the slope where Nick lies dead, Theo feels no regret for killing him, reflecting on his cowardice. She confirms to herself that Liam was killed by a blow to the head, not by suicide, and that Nick watched him and young Theo die (or, in Theo’s case, appear to die) without intervening.

Connor, injured from the gunshot, wants to leave the mountain entirely, but Theo insists that they return to the lodge instead. Though Connor questions this decision, he trusts Theo’s judgment. Theo asks Connor to help her retrieve Nick’s rifle before they make their way back to the lodge, preparing for the final confrontation with the Dalton family.

Theo and Connor enter the Dalton lodge, with Connor armed with Nick’s rifle. Speaking to the assembled family, Theo reveals her identity as Rowan Cahill, Mallory’s daughter. When Louise dismisses Mallory as merely Liam’s mistress, Theo explains that Liam and Mallory did not have an affair. Magnus confirms the truth: that rather than having an affair with Mallory, Liam was actually protecting Mallory from Nick’s abuse.

Alexis confesses to the family that she shot Mallory, while Louise admits to drugging Theo’s tea and proposes framing Theo for Olena’s death. Theo announces that Nick dead, which horrifies Louise, Magnus, and Rose but pleases Trevor. Connor reveals that Nick shot him during their escape. Theo states that Nick killed Liam, which Louise denies, but Connor reveals that he has seen Liam’s autopsy results confirming a head injury, not suicide. Learning that the family lied about her father’s suicide, Alexis collapses but then decides to officially confess to her role in Mallory’s death. Magnus asks to speak with Theo alone, and she agrees.

In the lodge study, Magnus offers Theo scotch and makes a startling admission: He knew that she had survived the events that killed her mother, and he recently tried to have her killed when her memory began returning. He explains that Alexis’s shot did not immediately kill Mallory.

Magnus recounts what happened: After Vance called him about Alexis, he found Mallory wounded but alive. After putting her in his car, he discovered Nick with the apparently lifeless bodies of Liam and young Theo (Rowan). Returning to Mallory, Magnus lied and told her that her daughter was safe. He then stabbed her with his hunting knife, killing her and staging the scene. Theo realizes with horror that Magnus, not Alexis or Nick, actually murdered her mother.

Still in the study, Theo holds the knife she used to kill Nick while Magnus reveals that he is dying of terminal pancreatic cancer with only 8-12 months to live. He proposes a deal: Nick will be blamed for Olena’s death and his own (as they will state truthfully that Theo killed him in self-defense). Theo will marry Connor and be welcomed into the family, burying the story of her true identity and of Mallory’s death. In return, Magnus will reveal where Mallory is buried.

Theo questions whether this arrangement provides justice for her mother. After considering Magnus’s offer, she sets down the knife without verbally accepting or rejecting the deal. She walks out and reunites with Connor in the foyer, simply telling him that she knows what she needs to do.

Several months after the events at Idlewood, Theo wakes from a recurring dream in her and Connor’s apartment, comforted by Duchess. She and Connor married in spring, with Harper and Rose as witnesses. Theo recounts what happened after leaving Magnus: He had her arrested, but Alexis’s confession exonerated her.

Criminal charges were filed against Magnus, though a trial is unlikely due to his terminal illness; he is now in hospice care. Louise claims ignorance of the family’s crimes. Paloma and Sebastian have moved away with Paloma’s family. Alexis will likely avoid prison. Daniel Vance disappeared, leaving Duchess behind. Theo has reclaimed her identity as Theo Rowan Cahill, and Connor has taken her surname. Despite extensive searching, Mallory’s burial site remains undiscovered, as Magnus refused to disclose its location. Theo finds solace in knowing that wildflowers bloom where her mother rests.