Years pass. Olympia attends Bard College, and Jed joins the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) at the state university. Cricket is promoted to assistant manager at the Whistlestop. Olympia sends long letters urging him to leave their town, her tone growing condescending. Cricket, meanwhile, dates a theater teacher, tries unsuccessfully to learn oil painting, and becomes skilled in trades like tiling and roofing.

Jed calls with news: Olympia’s father and grandmother have been indicted for insider trading, and their assets are frozen. Unable to afford Bard, Olympia is transferring to the state university. Soon after, she appears at the Whistlestop, thinner but defiant. She and Cricket drink wine by the river, where she discusses her new plan to become a museum director. She tells Cricket about a short-lived romance at Bard and then proposes that she, Cricket, and Jed form a new art movement based at their state school.

Cricket enrolls at the state university. June expresses concern about the cost and the stereotype of artists going “nuts,” citing historical figures like Hitler and Stalin. She makes him promise not to blame her for his future problems, recounting a story of a friend whose adult son labels her a “smotherer.