The sounds of New York City permeate Claire’s apartment, which is located above a busy Chinese restaurant. There are several text messages on her phone from her friend and former co-worker Ryan. He asks her if she’s coming to his party, and she realizes she’s forgotten about it. She tells him she’ll be right there.

Taking a shower, she reflects on no longer working as an investigative reporter on The New York Journal, something she’s done for the last 10 years. As she walks to the bar, she has mixed emotions. Ryan got the job Claire rightfully deserved and they both feel bad about her exit. On the television, there’s a news story about a man convicted of killing his 18-year-old girlfriend which distracts Claire as Ryan asks if she’s enjoying working freelance. She lies, telling Ryan she has a few leads rather than telling him that she’s had no work. He tries to be encouraging and apologizes about her not getting the promotion. She realizes that Ryan really does care about her and is perhaps her only friend. She’s about to tell him how she truly feels when her phone rings. It’s her dad, Alan, explaining that his ex-wife, Claire’s mom, has had an accident.

Alan explains that Annaliese fell through the back deck and broke her leg. Although Claire’s emotionally estranged from her mom, she’s still concerned for her. Alan suggests that Claire go back to her hometown of Claxton, South Carolina to help out, but asks her not to tell her mother he called.

As Claire hangs up, her former boss walks up and notes that he hasn’t seen her byline anywhere lately. He suggests she come back, but she tells him that won’t be necessary. The boss notes that Ryan’s been sad since she left. He tells Claire she should think over his job offer, telling her pride will get her nowhere.

As he leaves, Claire seethes and Ryan asks if she’s okay. Claire thinks he means about their boss’s arrogance, but he means her family. She reveals it’s been 15 years since she’s been home. He asks what happened and she doesn’t know how to explain, so she finds a story about Natalie’s case on the internet for him to read.

Back in her messy apartment, Claire settles in to reread the articles she gave Ryan earlier. He has asked why she didn’t tell him until now. She notes how the story on the news reminds her of her sister’s case. Ryan expresses concern that she’s suppressing her past.

Natalie’s supposed boyfriend, Jeffrey Slater, was incarcerated for her murder. Claire reexamines the key evidence found in Jeffrey’s car: A shirt soaked in her blood. At first, the cops had assured Claire and her parents that Natalie would be back in just a few days, assuming she’d gone to a friend’s house despite the fact that a black duffel bag was missing from Natalie’s closet. Her body was never found.

Nearing the end of her savings, Claire reasons that going home will let her rent out her apartment. She texts Annaliese, who lives in Claxton, a “small fishing town on the South Carolinian coast” (23). She tells her she’s thinking of coming home for a visit and asks if she could stay. Annaliese, who normally doesn’t reply, tells her she’d love to have her.

Driving home, Claire is pulled between the beauty of the landscape and her unwelcome memories of the past. Ryan calls to let her know her renter has made it to the apartment and he has dropped off the keys. Ryan’s voice is broken up by bad service and Claire notes how remote her small hometown is, surrounded by only other tiny towns. Ryan’s voice returns and tells her that perhaps going home is good and will enable her to heal from the past.

Claire drives to her mother’s house, which is exactly the same as it was in high school, except for it being more rundown. She says goodbye to Ryan. Approaching the house, Claire is reminded how the pain of losing Natalie has made her and her mother strangers. She confesses she almost backed out of coming, knowing she could’ve made an excuse and Annaliese would’ve said nothing in protest. She remembers that her father said Annaliese didn’t have anyone else to take care of her, and she admits she’s not proud of her responses to her mom. She enters the house despite the claustrophobic feeling it gives.

Annaliese greets her, holding a glass of wine. Claire notes this is typical even though Annaliese claims it’s to celebrate Claire’s return. Annaliese has a brace on her leg and wrist. The women hug, but it isn’t warm. Claire observes how Annaliese has aged: More wrinkles, graying hair, physically much thinner. The house feels like it’s caught in time with the furniture and pictures in exactly the same place.

Annaliese notes that Claire didn’t seem surprised she’d been injured and Claire explains how Alan was only trying to help. Claire wonders why Annaliese still has all of the family pictures framed on the wall since the family doesn’t exist, but Annaliese asks why she wouldn’t—it’s still her family. One picture of a teenage Natalie stands out for Claire. She’s wearing a peridot necklace Claire gave her for her 16th birthday. Natalie said she loved the necklace but removed it during that last summer. Claire is still hurt that Natalie outgrew her.

Upstairs, Claire looks at two bedrooms that rest side by side. She’ll be happy to stay out of Natalie’s room all summer, but then she remembers how Ryan told her not to avoid things and opens the door. Everything looks exactly the same as it did. She remembers hearing Natalie sneak out at night. Claire would tiptoe into the room to try on makeup and Natalie’s clothes. She looked up to Natalie and dreamed of being her big sister.

Going through Natalie’s desk, she finds a shoebox pushed to the back. Inside, there is a collection of old photographs and an old roll of undeveloped film. There’s an old picture of her parents when they were young and happy. The rest of the pictures are of Natalie and her friends and one of Natalie grinning. These are images Claire has never seen. Annaliese calls for her to come downstairs.

Downstairs, Annaliese has continued to drink. She tells Claire there’s not much in the house to eat. Claire remembers that once Natalie went missing, her mom seemed to forget about parenting her. Annaliese asks her how work is going but admits she doesn’t understand her coverage of murders. Claire thinks about how her goal was always to make sure victims were portrayed as human beings rather than statistics. Her mother asks if Claire is able to work remotely.

Rather than discuss quitting her job, Claire tells Annaliese about the shoebox of pictures, pulling out the photo of her happy sister. She remembers there were arguments that last summer and hopes that her mom will see Natalie’s good side again. Annaliese identifies a girl with Natalie in the picture as her friend Bethany Wheeler, whom she hasn’t seen since that summer. Claire is caught by another photo, one of Natalie with the man who may have killed her, Jeffrey Slater. It’s the only picture she’s seen of them together. She remembers that she had an inkling that something was happening that summer, thanks to the smell of cologne and a handful of dried forget-me-nots tied together.

She hides this picture at the back and shows another picture of Natalie to her mom. It’s when she worked at a vineyard called Galloway Farm. Claire remembers Natalie’s embarrassment when she and her parents showed up there. She also recalls it was right before the divorce. The picture saddens Annaliese. Claire asks if the farm still exists, and her mother says she thinks so, then downs her wine and redirects the conversation on where to get pizza.

Claire has insomnia and lies in bed, listening to the stillness. She wishes she could still hear Natalie through the wall. She drifts off and awakens in the bathroom, but it’s actually a dream. In the mirror, Natalie holds Claire’s childhood pillowcase. Natalie puts it over her head and pulls it tight. Now unable to see, Claire feels she is being suffocated. Both girls start to choke and Claire wakes up from the dream. The canopy has fallen on Claire’s head. It’s now six in the morning and Claire decides to get up.

As she makes coffee, she reflects on how the dream always upsets her. In the kitchen, she remembers the morning they realized Natalie was gone. Her mother had gone upstairs to wake Natalie and found the empty room with the window open and started screaming. In the present, Claire overhears Annaliese talking with Alan on the phone in another room. She angrily insists she doesn’t need Claire to be there, which hurts Claire’s feelings. She hurries up the stairs, gets dressed, and grabbing the shoebox and roll of film, leaves the house.

Claire drives to downtown Claxton to a shop to have the roll of film developed. The man at the shop notes the roll is very old and will take up to a week to develop. Claire worries when she notices how unorganized the shop is. She worries that potentially the last moments of her sister’s life could be lost forever.

Still bitter and resentful about her mom’s comments to her dad, Claire is unsure of how to spend her day. She decides to head up to Galloway Farm, the location of Natalie’s last happy picture.

Claire drives down a dirt lane to Galloway Farm, which is much like it was all those years ago but a little more worn-down. A large two-story house is flanked by a smaller guesthouse and a shed. Claire suddenly wonders if the place is even open to visitors anymore, and fears that she may be trespassing.

A man comes from the house and greets her. Handsome and tan, he is slightly older than herself. He’s been expecting someone who applied for a job there. Claire says she was hoping to visit and he lets her know they aren’t open to the public anymore. The owners, Mitchell and Marcia Galloway, are getting older and not up for running a business. Claire apologizes and turns to leave, but the man asks for her name and introduces himself as Liam. He says he’ll show her around since the applicant is a no-show.

Liam explains the farm was founded in 1984 and grows all sorts of items but specializes in grapes. The grapes need to be harvested and Liam, the manager, needs to hire someone to help him pick them by hand. Claire is tempted to talk about Natalie working there in 2002, but she thinks better of it. Liam explains how they used to hire seasonal workers for short shifts, but now they put one worker in the guesthouse. He tells Claire about the job of picking grapes, which comes with pay, room, and board. Claire says she’ll be in the area for a month and would like the job, but admits she has no previous experience.

Liam goes back to the house to run it by the owner, Mitchell. Claire believes that, at Galloway Farm, she’ll be able to imagine Natalie in a happy state. Mitchell comes out to talk to her and Claire notes how it seems that everything in the surroundings stops to pay attention to him. He welcomes her to the farm and she accepts the job.