Great and Precious Things

Willow desperately tries to reason with Arthur, who insists that he doesn’t know her and that she’s trespassing on his land—even though she’s his neighbor. She thinks about how bad she feels for him since his wife died 15 years ago in this exact spot from a cougar attack. He also lost his son Sullivan, who died while serving in the Army several years ago. Willow, who was 19 when Sullivan left, was dating him when he joined the Army.

A tall and dangerous-looking man steps in front of Willow. As he starts to talk to Arthur, Willow realizes that he’s Cam, whom she never expected to see again back in Alba. She tries to warn him that Arthur won’t recognize him, but Cam insists that she run while he’s blocking Arthur from her.

Cam moves slowly toward Arthur, trying to remind him who he is, while Willow debates whether to flee into the forest. Just as she decides to stay and try to help, Arthur shoots Cam. Willow barely registers Xander and the police officers taking the gun from Arthur as she desperately tries to help Cam. However, she realizes that he was only knocked down; he’s wearing a bulletproof vest. Gid jokes with Cam about it, and Cam points out that everything he owns was in his Jeep, so he put on the vest just in case.

Willow tries to ask Cam why he’s back. However, Arthur interrupts them, angrily insisting that Cam killed Sullivan. Willow tries to argue, but Cam tells her that he’s right. Before Willow can talk to him further, Cam tells her to go home and walks away.

Back at Arthur’s home, Police Captain Tim Hall—Gid’s father—confronts Xander and Cam about their plans for their father. He suggests that they place Arthur in a care facility, but Cam challenges him, insisting that he and Xander can care for Arthur. Captain Hall backs down, calling Xander “Mayor” as he leaves.

The revelation that Xander is the town’s mayor shocks Cam. Xander tells him that he has no other political aspirations—he just wants to help the town. He’s trying to help them capitalize on the influx of tourists they’ll get for the summer season, as Alba is one of the country’s most popular “ghost towns.”

After the police leave, Arthur turns his anger on Cam, telling him that he isn’t welcome in his home because he killed Sullivan. Xander tries to intervene, but Cam simply leaves and goes back to his Jeep.

Outside, Xander apologizes to Cam and tells him that he isn’t responsible for Sullivan’s death. However, Cam insists that he is. He gave the order to a squad leader to move with his men and reinforce the area of the outpost that was under the most fire. He didn’t realize that Sullivan was part of that squad until it was too late; Sullivan was shot less than 10 feet from Cam.

Because Cam refuses to go back into the house, Xander pleads with him to stay at their uncle Cal’s home. Cam thinks of how he’d “loved [Cal] more than [his] own father” (41). Cal left the house to him when he died (a year before Sullivan did).

Since graduating from Rutgers a couple years ago, Willow has worked (mostly from home) as a graphic designer. Early the next morning, her best friend, Thea, interrupts her work, bringing her coffee. Willow knows that Thea is there to talk about Cam, but before they can start talking, Willow’s mother, Hope, shows up. They briefly talk about how the entire town is gossiping about Cam being back. Willow unconsciously looks at the onyx rook by her computer, which is from the same chess set as Cam’s bishop.

Hope asks Willow to take a bag of things over to Cam, including his boots that he left at Arthur’s house. She tells Willow that he’s staying at Cal’s house, where Cam, Willow, and Sullivan spent most of their childhood. Although she’s afraid to see Cam, Willow agrees to take the stuff to him.

Cam is short with Willow but invites her in. She notes how large and intimidating he looks and thinks about how the town loves to gossip about him being dangerous; however, she’s certain that he would never do anything to hurt her. After awkward small talk, Willow tells him that she has a bag from her mother as well as a few boxes. She says that she’ll bring them all in, so Cam goes back into the garage to work on Cal’s car.

After Willow finishes bringing in the boxes, she stops in the library. She remembers a few nights before Sullivan was deployed. She, Cam, and Sullivan draped cloth over all the shelves and books in the library to protect them after Cal died. She recalls how Cam sat and read to her.

Cam interrupts her thoughts. He comments on how she left several boxes in the hall. As he starts going through them, Willow is embarrassed; she had intended to leave before he saw what was in them. Cam is shocked to see all his belongings from his childhood room at Arthur’s house. After Sullivan died, Arthur took Cam’s things and put them out on the curb, so Cam thought they had been thrown out. However, Willow collected them all in the middle of the night.

Cam asks why Willow bothered to keep his things. She tells him that it’s because it’s what Sullivan would have done. However, as she walks home, she thinks of how she told him the “easier” part of the truth. In reality, she did it because she knows that Cam would have done the same for her.

The next day, Cam stands outside his father’s house, noting the things he wants to repair. He tries to avoid going in, but Dorothy comes out and makes him go in to see Arthur, who isn’t as lucid as he was a couple days ago. Arthur’s best friend, Walt, is on his way out. Arthur is following him and stops to talk to Cam, telling him that he’s glad to see him and that he has turned into a “man to be proud of” (62). However, he then calls Cam “Rich,” thinking that he’s Dorothy’s son. Walt starts to correct him, but Cam just thanks Arthur, deciding that it’s easier than reminding him of who Cam is.

Outside, Walt reassures Cam that he’s doing the right thing by coming home to help his family. He points out that many in town—including the Halls—are hesitant to trust Cam again, considering all the trouble he used to get into. He warns Cam not to do anything to upset them.

A few days later, on Saturday night, Cam and Xander go to Mother Lode, the only bar in Alba. They stand near the back of the bar as several people from town watch them. Xander asks why Cam doesn’t drink anymore, and Cam tells him that he hasn’t since Sullivan died. He points out that bad things happen when he drinks, like when he threw Xander through the gas station window. However, Xander insists that it was his fault since he grabbed Cam to stop him from beating up Oscar Hudgens and Cam simply “reacted.” Cam gets angry while thinking about that night, when Oscar made a comment about possibly hooking up with Willow now that Sullivan was dead. However, Cam pushes the anger aside.

Cam finally decides to bring up the thing that convinced him to come back: Their father left him a voicemail a few weeks ago, telling Cam that he wanted a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order, but Xander, who has his power of attorney, refuses to let him sign one. Xander is immediately defensive, insisting that he won’t let his father “kill himself.” Cam decides to bring it up again later.

Xander tells Cam that Willow’s sister, Charity, owns the bar. She got pregnant with her daughter, Rose, several years ago, which caused a rift between Charity and their father, Judge Noah Bradley. Since then, she has been living on her own and working at Mother Lode. As they talk, Willow walks in and goes to the bar. Cam sees Oscar staring at her.

Xander suggests that Cam come to the town’s Historical Society meeting. Their father, as the head of a founding family, has a vote for what they do. He wants Cam’s support, and Cam promises to consider it.

When Xander excuses himself to go talk to someone else, Cam sees Oscar drunkenly get up from his stool. Cam walks over and stands between Willow and Oscar, asking Charity for the bill. When Oscar sees him, he seems surprised and then punches Cam. Cam thinks of how slow and drunk Oscar is; he could have stopped his punch but decided not to.

Willow is sure that Cam will retaliate against Oscar, but he simply laughs. When Oscar tries to hit him again, Cam catches his fist. Willow sees the commotion building, so she grabs Cam and takes him through the back. They go upstairs to Charity’s apartment above the bar.

Willow gets Cam an ice pack, which has a unicorn on it. She tells him how surprised she is that Cam didn’t retaliate, noting how he has changed. However, Cam insists that he’s the “same Cam” that Willow always knew—he’s just trying to change how the town sees him.

Rose comes down and interrupts their conversation. She comments on Cam’s unicorn ice pack. He talks with her, and Willow notices how kind he is to her. Rose then goes back up to bed.

Cam asks about the bar. Charity bought it using her family inheritance to get away from their father nine years ago when she had Rose. Cam asks what Willow did with her inheritance. She and Sullivan planned to go to college after he was out of the military. When he died, she decided to go on her own, but her father wouldn’t support it, so she used her inheritance.

Cam tells her that’s how the town is. It’s a “huge mausoleum” (82), full of old people who refuse to change. Willow agrees, saying that they still expect her to grieve for Sullivan and never move on with her life. She thinks to herself about how they even caused her to “settle” for Sullivan, even though she never felt the passionate love she expected to feel toward the man she married. However, she refuses to tell Cam any of this.

Willow asks Cam why he moved back to Alba, and he tells her about his father voicemail. He then asks her the same question. She tries to say that it was for family, but Cam insists that that isn’t a good enough reason to trap herself there. He tells her that she “let the town dictate once” who she loved (83)—essentially reading her mind about her love for Sullivan—and that she shouldn’t do that again. Before she can respond, Cam thanks her for caring for him, noting how it’s been a long time since anyone has done so, and then starts to leave. As he does, Willow asks him to come to the Historical Society meeting, telling him that he should try to get support from the town if he opposes Xander’s decisions about his father.

Charity comes back up to her apartment. She and Willow talk about Cam, and Charity notes that he has always been interested in Willow. Willow adamantly denies it, insisting that Cam sees her as a sister. However, that night, she struggles to sleep, wondering if Charity is right.