As a storm breaks, Maven leaves a voicemail for her boss, Luce, requesting time off. She calls her boyfriend, Ezra, and ends their relationship, reflecting that it is difficult for any man to love her because of the emotional damage that Ronan caused.

Finding the aunts and Bea lighting candles, Maven asks for bacon. When Davina lectures her about pigs suffering in slaughterhouses, Bea decides to become a vegetarian. Maven decides to walk in the rain despite Esme’s protests.

In town, everything is mostly the same as it was 12 years ago. She enters a Mexican restaurant and finds Ronan.

Ronan sits at Maven’s booth, and they trade insults. He asks if Lorinda had enemies, noting that townspeople were terrified of her and Maven. A hostess brings them both Cadillac margaritas, and Ronan recalls that she once poured one over his head.

Ronan says he wants her friendship. He tells her that she is the most fascinating woman he has ever met, then calls her weird for playing with bugs. (Maven became an entomologist specializing in butterflies because they represent transformation.) She resents the fact that Ronan arouses her.

When she tries to leave, Ronan says “please,” and his uncharacteristic vulnerability makes her stay. Maven remembers falling in love with Ronan even though he bullied her in school. Maven claims to be married, but Ronan calls her a liar. Ronan stays in Solstice to be near his family but works in Boston several days a week, traveling by helicopter. Maven says she is smarter than Ronan, devaluing his position by noting that he inherited his company and fortune. Ronan offers to answer questions about himself but gets irritated when Maven says that she does not want anything from him. His annoyance pleases Maven.

Maven needles Ronan by praising her supposed fiancé, Ezra, and contrasting his self-made success with Ronan’s inherited wealth. Ronan’s greatest insecurity is his family’s money, and Maven exploits it. She recalls when Ronan threw a caviar-covered blini that stuck to her forehead, but he claims he was aiming at someone who was harassing her and says that he always wanted to apologize.

Ronan asks about Lorinda’s cause of death. Noting that she seemed healthy days before her demise, he theorizes that she might have faked her own death. Maven explains that it is Blackthorn tradition to forgo autopsies and be buried in biodegradable coffins. Ronan realizes that Lorinda was not embalmed and reasons that after six days, an unpreserved body should show significant signs of decomposition. Realizing that her grandmother looked perfectly preserved at the viewing, Maven excuses herself.

She abruptly leaves, and Ronan pulls her to safety as a large chunk of concrete falls where she had been standing.

Maven tells Ronan to let go of her, noticing his worried expression turning to a smoldering gaze. She remembers a painful moment when he was dismissive after sex, then recalls the rejection she felt when she told him that she was pregnant. She pushes him away and drives home.

Maven calls Mr. Anderson, who explains Lorinda was refrigerated, preserving her body. Bea points to a red-and-black fox on a nearby bench, and Maven realizes that the fox is sitting on the same bench her grandmother used to frequent. The fox appears to smile, then vanishes. Maven warns Bea to stay away from wild animals. Getting ready for a nap, Bea removes her colored contact lenses, revealing the same pale, icy eye color as Ronan’s.

Ronan endures a tense Sunday dinner with his father, Elijah; his stepmother, Diana; and his 10-year-old half-brother, August. Elijah discusses seeing the Blackthorns at Lorinda’s viewing, and Ronan defends them. Elijah went to the viewing to confront Esme and Davina about hexing him. Ronan insults Diana, who argues with him and then leaves with August.

After they depart, Ronan thinks about Bea, whom he still believes is his daughter. Elijah questions Ronan about a new serum intended to cure a genetic disease that affects Croft males from adolescence onward. The serum is not yet effective, but they need to perfect it before August starts showing symptoms. Diana remains unaware of the disease. Ronan reflects that the disease drove his mother to die by suicide when he was 13, for which he blames his father.

As Ronan leaves, Elijah warns him to stay away from Maven, echoing the warnings he used to deliver every day during Ronan’s childhood. Ronan asks why his father has always specifically warned him against Maven, but Elijah dismisses the question. As Ronan leaves, he notices ravens watching him from a maple tree.

Maven has a nightmare of being burned at the stake as a witch by a man with pale blue eyes.

She wakes with a severe nosebleed. Downstairs, Q teaches Bea about the Fibonacci sequence, reminding Maven of her own education through the many books in Blackthorn Manor. The aunts announce that Anderson’s Funeral Home has been shut down by the state, which Maven knows was Ronan’s doing. They mention running into him at the grocery store, noting that he was suspiciously polite. (After going to Harvard, Ronan built his own home in Solstice, but he generally never acknowledges the Blackthorns.)

When Bea asks how Maven’s mother died, Maven says that her mother was found dead after an apparent fall from a church roof on Croft property. Police found wheelchair tracks in the snow but omitted them from the report when Elijah denied being there. (Granny’s recent death was caused by a fall down the stairs.)

Prompted by her encounter with the falling concrete, Maven asks about the Blackthorn ancestors’ deaths. The aunts describe various accidents; Great-Granny Cleda was trampled by a milk cart, Great-Aunt Tisi died in a car crash, and Great-Aunt Persephone drowned in her bathtub. Alarmed by the pattern, Maven resolves to investigate further at the courthouse but plans to visit Ronan’s house first.

Maven goes to Ronan’s ultra-modern house. He lets her in, and they trade insults as he shows her the sterile interior. Ronan’s appliances are needlessly complex, but he admits to buying them for their appearance. Maven sees Ronan’s laptop open to a webpage about Dr. Brett Lattman.

Ronan demands that she take her hair out of its braid, insisting it is too beautiful to be hidden and refusing to help until she complies. The tension becomes sexual as he moves close, touches her hair, and asks again to be friends. Maven’s arousal turns to rage, and she angrily threatens to kill him in his sleep. Amused, Ronan kisses her.

Stunned, Maven gives in to the kiss, but she reminds herself not to trust him, pushes away, and leaves.

At the county courthouse, she finds a long line of female ancestors who all died in bizarre accidents. Maven wonders if Elspeth died by suicide and does not understand why Elijah denied going to the scene of her death. The oldest record shows Megaera Blackthorn was executed for witchcraft. Birth records reveal that for over three centuries, Blackthorn women have only given birth to daughters. Marriage records show no Blackthorn has ever married.

Ronan calls, having obtained her number via software on his laptop, and demands that she come back to his house When Maven mentions his past cruelty, he delivers a sincere apology and claims he wants to be better with Maven. Maven reminds him that she is leaving soon, so he threatens to shut down the train station and roads with the Croft family’s influence. She calls him a villain, and he accuses her of pretending Bea is not his. He says they have unfinished business and hangs up. Maven blocks his number.