Violet reveals she set up the hair dye and the haircut. She also orchestrated Allison’s appointment at Rose & Honey. At the hairdresser’s, she intentionally dropped the Rose & Honey card to unsettle Sloane. When Sloane is out with Harper, Violet doesn’t study for the New York bar exam: She listens to crime podcasts.

The next afternoon, Sloane arrives in Violet’s Carolina Herrera tank top—Jay’s “favorite” shirt. Violet notices Sloane’s breasts and makeup. Violet invites Sloane to Block Island, a wealthy resort town off the coast of Rhode Island. She’ll pay Sloane too. She tells Sloane she needs Sloane’s driver’s license to buy a ticket for the ferry and put her on the rental car reservation. Sloane promises to bring it tomorrow. By bribing Gina, a travel agent, Violet found a house next to a family. Violet is confident that her mysterious plan will work. Alone, she sips wine.

Growing up, Violet and her parents spent every summer at Block Island. They stayed in the bungalow of Violet’s grandmother, Rebecca. As Violet grew up, her parents would leave after a week, but Violet would stay longer. When Violet was a high school senior, she moved in with Rebecca. Unlike her parents, Rebecca was carefree. Violet felt like herself around Rebecca.

Violet told Rebecca when Danny kissed her. She was 16. She’s known Danny since she was six. They built sandcastles and listened to Prince. Danny and his family lived year-round on Block Island. Shortly after the kiss, Danny told Violet that they couldn’t be romantic partners.

Rebecca died when Violet was a college freshman. Her mother called and told her, which was the first time in months that she had spoken to her mother. Last spring, Jay, Violet, and Harper returned to Block Island. The smell was the same, but the tourism had accelerated, and an ugly, three-story house had replaced Rebecca’s bungalow. Aside from Danny’s aunt, no one recognized Violet, although her bikini bottoms “turned heads.” When Jay initiated sex with her, she dissociated.

The next morning, Sloane brings her real driver’s license. To explain the name she’s been using, she tells Violet people called her “Caitlin” when she was growing up and the name stuck with her. Violet wishes Sloane had a less “lame” lie.

Violet then persuades Sloane to sign documents that give Sloane guardianship of Harper. Sloane signs her real name, and Violet forges Jay’s signature. Violet also has another mysterious legal document with her (divorce papers). She’ll send them to their lawyer from Jay’s email. She’ll then block the lawyer’s email, so Jay won’t find out about them. Violet gives Sloane a bag of nice clothes. In Block Island, she wants people to think Sloane is Violet Lockhart.

Once Sloane leaves, Violet goes to the DMV with Sloane’s driver’s license. Violet gets a new picture, and she has the DMV send the ID to a PO Box she established in Block Island. Violet pays $35 for expedited shipping.

Growing up, Violet and her parents weren’t close. Nannies and tutors surrounded her, and she ate dinner with the housekeeper. Violet did ballet and horseback riding. She felt like an object.

In high school, she saw her father with another woman. She told her mother, but her mother already knew. Enraged by the lies, she went to live with Rebecca. Her grandmother left her an eight-figure trust fund; her parents only received the bungalow, which they sold to upgrade their “country club membership.”

Jay and Violet were college sweethearts. Her parents didn’t like Jay, but they tried to reconcile with Violet. Her father offered to make her a partner at his law firm. Her mother wanted her to serve on a foundation that she was a part of. Violet assumed they only reached out because of the trust fund. After Harper was born, Jay and Harper moved to New York City for Jay’s business opportunity. Violet changed her number, disabled her social media, and refuses to speak to her parents.

The Lockharts and Sloane travel to Block Island. Violet wears Sloane’s flannel—Violet “traded” the Carolina Herrera top for it—and Violet feels like she is Sloane. Sloane appears dressed in Violet’s clothes. Violet packs the burner phone and a gun that her mother gave her before she moved to New York City. The gun is registered to Jay and Violet. In her bathroom, Violet calls an unnamed person and cryptically tells them “soon.”

On the way there, Violet takes several photos of Harper and Sloane. In the rental car, she makes Sloane ride up front with Jay. Block Island is bustling, and it looks like a “movie set.” After they arrive at their “vintage” two-story cottage, Violet has Jay take Sloane on a tour of the island. Jay gives Violet a “confused” look. Violet wants people to assume that Jay and Sloane are Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart.

Alone, Violet puts the gun, the burner phone, and the divorce papers (the other legal document) in a safe. Aside from a red Hervé Léger dress, Violet leaves all her clothes in her suitcase. Later this week, she plans to move the clothes into Sloane’s room.

Jay and Sloane arrive at the beach and meet up with Harper and Violet. Sloane thinks of Block Island as a place where “nothing bad” can occur. However, many mysterious deaths have happened on Block Island. Money, power, and a bribable coroner who drinks conceal the crimes.

After dinner, Violet gives Harper a bath and goes to bed. She wants Sloane and Jay to be alone and become intimate, but Sloane goes to bed, and Jay tries to initiate sex with Violet, who is uninterested. Jay and Violet met when they were freshmen in college. After they graduated, Jay proposed. Violet believed she’d always liked how Jay looked at her. She tried hard to stay in shape, but Jay grew tired of looking at her.

The next morning, Violet feels unburdened. She’s not trying to look good for Jay. She realizes she went from being the person her parents wanted her to be to the person Jay wanted her to be.

After burning Harper’s toast, Violet quickly makes Harper new toast so they can get to the beach and interact with the family in the house next to them. Anne-Marie is the talkative mother, Fitz is her lackluster husband, and Rooney and Claire are their children. Violet tells Anne-Marie that she’s Caitlin—Harper’s nanny. She points to Sloane, who’s wearing Dior sunglasses, and says that Sloane is Violet Lockhart. She invites Anne-Marie to their house later in the afternoon.

Still on the beach, Violet tells Sloane that Anne-Marie assumed Violet was the nanny and Sloane was Jay’s wife. Violet went along with it, and she gets Sloane to agree to maintain the lie. Jay works in the cottage, but Violet suggests that Jay isn’t really working. He arrives with food, but he doesn’t bring the ice cream that Violet wants. Harper’s favorite Taylor Swift song is “Bad Blood” (2014), and Harper plays it on repeat.

Anne-Marie arrives at the Lockhart cottage. Harper, Rooney, and Claire play in Harper’s room. Sloane pretends to be Violet. Annie-Marie praises Violet’s nanny. Anne-Marie shares her backstory. She’s from Vermont. She met Fitz at a sales conference. They live in Charlotte, North Carolina, so they’re close to Fitz’s parents.

Jay appears, and he and Anne-Marie discuss their fondness for running, even though Violet hasn’t seen Jay run since they moved to New York City. Nevertheless, Jay and Anne-Marie agree to go running together.

Violet summarizes the next few days. Anne-Marie gossips about the people on Block Island; along with Sloane, she “ogles” Jay, whose tan is making him “more handsome.” When Harper says, “Mom,” both Sloane and Violet react. Violet doesn’t wash her face, and she eats a lot. Sloane and Violet binge-watch Bridgerton. Violet likes Sloane, but she believes that Sloane now wants Jay more than her.

One night, Violet goes to bed early instead of watching Bridgerton with Sloane. She secretly spies on Sloane and Jay, who watch the fireflies. Jay tries to kiss Sloane, and Violet wants Sloane to kiss him, but Sloane pulls back. Jay then tells Sloane that he and Violet are divorcing. He claims they’ve “changed” and have divergent priorities.

Violet remembers the night of the fight when they first mentioned divorce. Jay told her she wasn’t the woman he married. Feeling rejected, Violet threw her entire wine glass at him. When they first married, she was “meticulously curated.” She wore sexy underwear and performed oral sex on him in public places. Once she had Harper, the baby became her focus. As Harper started sleeping longer, Violet returned to her “curated,” sexual identity. Jay promised he’d be “better” once they moved to New York. Jay’s lies enrage Violet.

The next morning, Sloane doesn’t ask Violet about the divorce. Violet announces that she made dinner reservations at a famous lobster house. She wants more people to see Sloane and Jay together, and she wants Sloane to wear the “head-turning,” red Hervé Léger dress. Reinforcing her low-effort look, Violet wears plastic-rimmed glasses.

Due to the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog, Harper wants a green dress, so Harper, Sloane, and Violet go shopping for one. Violet gives Sloane her credit card so it looks like Sloane is buying her daughter clothes. She tells Sloane to meet her at a little cafe near the children’s shop. When they arrive, a woman in her fifties or sixties exits the children’s shop and waves at Sloane. Violet asks about the woman, and Sloane says it’s someone she just met in the shop. The woman is Laura Hoffman.