Jane sends Emmy to a drug rehabilitation center.

Angus calls Demon for help. U-Haul tries to assault her. He threatens to report Coach Winfield for embezzlement if she doesn’t have sex with him. However, Angus has evidence that U-Haul has been forging Winfield’s signature so that U-Haul can take money from the school and give it to his mother. When U-Haul finally leaves, Demon shows Angus how to use Coach Winfield’s gun and makes sure she’s securely locked in her room.

Dori dies of an overdose. Demon notes that “The funeral was so wrong, I couldn’t see how it mattered. I’d already done everything in the world I could for Dori, and it added up to nothing” (469). Angus has helped Coach Winfield reveal the truth about U-Haul to the school board. They’re considering suspending Winfield, but not until after football season. Angus still plans on transferring to a college far away, but she plans on helping Coach through AA.

Demon lives in Dori’s car until Mrs. Peggot asks him to move in with her, hoping he’ll be a good influence on Maggot. Instead, he and Maggot get high together. Demon tries to keep up his contract with the comic strip, but Tommy now does most of the work.

Demon and Maggot run into Rose, who wants to visit Fast Forward. Despite being angry with him, Demon decides to follow after her, as does Maggot. It’s pouring rain outside, and, on their way, they see Emmy’s ex-boyfriend Hammer’s truck with a flat tire. They bring him with them, too high to realize that Hammer shouldn’t see Fast Forward.

When Hammer hears that Fast Forward is near Devil’s Bathtub, he persuades Demon and Maggot to help him confront Fast Forward. Hammer has his rifle with him, and as they approach Devil’s Bathtub, Demon realizes that Rose must have set up the whole situation. It’s raining so hard that the creeks and crossings are flooding. They find Fast Forward playing around at the waterfall. Hammer threatens him with his gun, so Fast Forward jumps, intending to run away. Instead, Fast Forward jumps to his death on the rocks. Hammer rushes into the water to find him and gets carried away by the current. Though Hammer had threatened Fast Forward, he hadn’t planned on killing him. The others watch as Hammer’s body, clearly dead, floats further down the creek.

While Fast Forward’s friend Big Bear and Maggot run for help, Demon stays with the bodies. He hides the rifle. When EMTs arrive, they hospitalize Demon for exposure. In the hospital, he is inundated with OxyContin. Rose visits Demon to accuse him of murder. She wants to report that Demon gave Hammer drugs that led to his death.

The Peggot family deliberates telling Emmy, but they’re worried that she’ll feel guilty about Hammer’s death. Rose has reported Maggot to the police as an accessory to Hammer’s death. His court date is the same month his mother is supposed to be released from prison.

June offers to help Demon get into a rehab center and afterward a halfway house. She says he needs to stay away from Lee County for at least a year to recover. Demon doesn’t want to consider leaving.

Demon packs his things and leaves the Peggot house without a clear destination in mind. He drives into the countryside, where he walks around in nature, contemplating his life. He thinks of Mr. Peggot and Angus, people who have always been kind to him and believed in him. He sleeps outside and thinks about returning to accept June’s offer for rehab.

Demon leaves for rehab and learns how difficult it is to be sober. Maggot goes to juvie, where he is forced to enter rehab. He is released after two years and now lives with his mother.

Demon has found a new group of companions in his halfway house. Their sponsor, Chartrain, is a kind man whose life struggles impress even Demon. Demon misses the countryside, but he comes to appreciate the employment opportunities in Knoxville. Demon stays in touch with Tommy, whose friendship is steady and supportive.

Demon makes a new friend at the library—a librarian named Lyra whom he’s attracted to. She helps Demon study for his GED and shows him how to upload his drawings to the computer. Tommy moves to Pennsylvania and marries his long-term online girlfriend.

Demon also stays in touch with Angus, who’s at a prestigious university in Nashville.

Demon starts uploading new drawings to a comic book webpage under the name Demon Copperhead. Tommy comes up with an idea for a graphic novel. He has been researching the ways the American government has oppressed “rednecks” for their loyalty to land over tax-paying jobs in the city. Tommy proposes they include the history of Black Americans and Indigenous Americans, who were similarly cheated of their land. Demon starts drawing the comics and posting them online. Soon, he amasses a following. A publisher from New York asks him for more material. Mrs. Annie offers to help Demon come up with a book proposal, but because she’s pregnant, Demon needs to visit her in Lee County, where he hasn’t returned to in three and a half years. His therapist, Dr. Andresen, helps him work through his fears about returning. In therapy, the more Demon has interrogated his past, the more he has come to accept that his traumas started before he was even born.

There’s an upcoming event honoring Coach Winfield in Lee County. Demon decides to return to Lee County, but he still doesn’t trust himself. As he drives into town, he is haunted by his memories. He reaches Mrs. Annie’s house, but she has left a note that she has gone into labor. He calls June, who offers to let him stay with her. He drives around, observing, “Everything I looked at made my eyes water. It felt like being in love with somebody that’s married. I could never have this. Staying here, alone and sober, was beyond my powers. And I still wanted it with all my hungry parts” (530). Demon visits Devil’s Bathtub and is surprised to find it beautiful.

June fills Demon in on the news. She’s been helping petition for recent lawsuits against Purdue Pharma. Maggot and his mother have remained sober, and Maggot has a boyfriend now. Emmy is in a halfway house in Asheville, happily pursuing dance. Demon decides not to go to Coach Winfield’s celebration, worried he’ll reunite with former drug dealers and people struggling with addiction. Instead, Demon visits Betsy and Mr. Dick. He asks them a lot of questions about Angus.

Demon visits Coach Winfield, who now lives in a nice apartment complex and is retired from football. Demon goes to visit Angus, who is arranging to sell the family’s former house. Demon is nervous around Angus, unsure how to feel about her. She plans on continuing school to become a social worker. Angus proposes they finally go see the ocean. As they drive together, Demon realizes that his feelings for Angus extend beyond those of a brother.