Marguerite keeps her heavy clothes on in the boiling sun while the men swim in the sea. She helps them clean fish, mend nets, and pray for safe passage. She is seasick, but the voyage is smooth for the first month. In the fifth week, the boats sail into a bad storm. The crew tie themselves to the deck as they roll over massive waves. On one wave, their sister ship capsizes, and all of the sailors are lost. The sailors and Marguerite pray wildly for safety. The storm subsides, and Anzar thanks Marguerite for saving their ship. Many possessions were lost, including the Virgin and Marguerite’s psalms. The ship veered off course, and the men let out their frustrations by fighting. Marguerite brings the sailors together with a prayer for the dead.

The wind picks up, and porpoises follow the boat. They sail for several weeks and suddenly come upon a whaling ship. The ship’s captain, Barthold, boards and listens to Anzar’s story. Barthold speaks to Marguerite in fluent French and asks about her exile. Marguerite is shy, but Barthold thanks her for conveying the men safely across the ocean. He invites Anzar to follow him to La Rochelle.

After three days, the ship arrives at La Rochelle. A boat ferries the sailors ashore, and the oarsmen look at Marguerite with suspicion. Marguerite pays the sailors, and Mikel helps her find Jean Alfonse’s house. The clamor of the market overwhelms Marguerite. At Jean Alfonse’s door, a servant refuses Marguerite entry and throws her down the stairs. Marguerite pays Mikel another coin and dismisses him.

Marguerite finds maids behind Jean Alfonse’s house and pleads her case to them. She sees Marie, the young servant from Roberval’s house. Marguerite recalls information about the house that only she would know, but Marie was told Marguerite died. Marguerite gives a coin to a maid so she can ask Jean Alfonse’s steward if she can stay at the house. Marguerite tries to pay Marie to bring her clothes, but the maid returns and turns Marguerite away. Marguerite buys food from the market and purchases old servants’ clothes and shoes. A guard patrols for loiterers, so Marguerite slips into a church to avoid punishment.

Marguerite sleeps deeply in the church, but a sexton kicks her out in the morning. She buys food for her journey and walks towards Perigord. While she walks alone, men harass her on the road. For safety, she pays for a ride on an ox cart, and again she pays to sleep on the couple’s floor. Marguerite sets out again and joins a passing group of pilgrims. She steals away from the group after three days, and she trades her shoes for food. She forages for berries and spends the night in an abandoned hut.

After ten days, Marguerite reaches Perigord. She cleans herself in a river before approaching and learns the Montforts still own the castle. Grooms turn her away at the stables, and the garden doors are locked. She hears Claire’s voice over the garden wall and calls out to her. Agnes, a nurse, opens the door, and Marguerite sees Claire, Madame D’Artois, and the grown Suzanne and Ysabeau. None of the women recognize Marguerite, and when she calls for help, Agnes hits her for begging. Claire helps Marguerite up, and when Marguerite presents the ring, Claire realizes her friend has returned.

Claire helps Marguerite to her old chamber. Marguerite hides her few possessions and washes. The women dress Marguerite in one of Claire’s gowns, comb her matted hair, and return her mother’s ruby ring. Marguerite worries about what to tell her friends, but they don’t press her to speak. Ysabeau and Suzanne play music for Marguerite. Marguerite feels shy returning to the activities of a lady, and she regards the room with a new appreciation.

When the children leave, Marguerite tells the women of her journey to New France. She explains that Roberval exiled her, Auguste, and Damienne on an island, hoping they would die there, and they lived off the land. She tells them of Damienne and Auguste’s deaths but doesn’t mention her child. Claire reveals that Roberval is back at the King’s court, and the Montforts—now Lord and Lady—are at the Queen’s court.

At night, Marguerite has trouble sleeping on her raised featherbed, so she sleeps on the floor. Marguerite sits in on the girls’ lessons and tears up when they read from the book of ladies. The girls pepper her with questions, so Marguerite describes the wonders of the island, like the pure white fox and the small white flowers. Marguerite hopes the children will recommend her to their mother, as she doesn’t want to be Roberval’s ward.

Marguerite continues to teach the girls with Claire, but she finds the chamber and garden restrictive after living in the wild. The elder Montforts return to the chateau, and Marguerite frets about her position in the house. The children bring an invitation from Lady Katherine, so Marguerite collects some of her treasures and follows them downstairs.

Marguerite meets Lady Katherine and the two older Montfort girls, Louise and Anne. Lady Katherine thanks the teachers for their diligent work and dismisses the children so Marguerite can talk freely. Marguerite describes the brutal winter and how she had to kill a bear herself after Auguste and Damienne died. She shows the women her knife and the bear’s claw, and they are both horrified and fascinated. Lady Katherine suggests Marguerite should tell her story to the Queen when she visits in a month.

In their chamber, Claire and Madame D’Artois express horror at the suffering Marguerite endured. Marguerite asks Claire about the Queen. Claire explains that the Queen likes to collect stories. When Claire and Madame D’Artois were at her court, the poet Clemet Marot fell in love with Madame, though Madame rejected him. The Queen loved Marot for herself and felt betrayed by Madame, so she expelled her from court. Marot wrote the book of psalms that Marguerite read, and Roberval was Marot’s benefactor. The story intensifies Marguerite’s anxieties.

Perigord bustles with activity in preparation for the Queen’s arrival, which distracts Ysabeau and Suzanne from their lessons. Marguerite worries about her audience with the Queen, and Madame D’Artois reminds Marguerite to speak briefly and ask for nothing. Claire gives Marguerite her gold ring for comfort.

Marguerite follows a maid through the crowds of ladies and gentlemen, and Marguerite sees Roberval among them. Infuriated by his pleasantries, Marguerite evades him and slips into Lady Katherine’s room. The hairdresser arranges her hair and paints over her sun damaged skin, and the women dress her in an extravagant gown. They admire how Marguerite looks in the room, and Marguerite feels like a curiosity.

In the great hall, Marguerite tells herself that Roberval won’t make a scene, but while the crowd is distracted, Roberval seizes Marguerite’s arm and drags her into the darkened hall. Marguerite deflects his niceties and rebukes him for his cruelty. Roberval warns Marguerite to be careful in front of the Queen. Marguerite declares that she survived everything he put her through and has nothing left to lose. As she turns away, Roberval reveals he already told the Queen Marguerite’s story.

At the banquet, Marguerite ignores her meal and watches the Queen. The Queen is unamused by the entertainment, and when she leaves, Lady Katherine beckons Marguerite to follow. The Queen asks Marguerite to tell the story of her travels, which she already recorded from Lady Katherine and Roberval’s reports. This upsets Marguerite, but she asks the Queen to read the tale so she can illuminate the details better. The Queen tells Marguerite that the tale does not punish her further for her disobedience but praises her faith.

The Queen reads her tale, which differs significantly from Marguerite’s experience. In the Queen’s version, Auguste plotted to kill Roberval, and Marguerite begged for exile to prevent her husband’s death. After Auguste died of starvation, Marguerite fed her soul with prayer. Roberval’s ships found Marguerite and conveyed her back to France. Marguerite can’t stop herself, and she corrects the Queen with the truth about the Basque fisherman. The Queen is insulted, and the more Marguerite apologizes, the more she offends the Queen.

Marguerite tells as much of the truth as she can. She explains how she had to hunt and kill bears after one devoured Auguste’s body, and rather than find comfort in God, she became hopeless. She speaks of Damienne and her child’s death. Marguerite describes how she finally understood the psalms and found her way back to God. She feels relief to finally speak of her trials and faults. The Queen confesses that she too has grappled with doubt, and she thinks people who have suffered have the most to teach others.

Rather than punish Marguerite, the Queen rewards her. Marguerite asks for a dowry so Claire can become a nun. The Queen commends Marguerite’s charity, but she wants the girl to have something for herself too. Marguerite explains her dream of building a school for poor girls. The Queen thinks it’s an uncommon request, but she gifts Marguerite a trunk of gold and offers to write the school’s charter. The Queen leaves, and the Montforts praise Marguerite. Marguerite changes back into her plain gown and carries her trunk of gold to her chamber.

Marguerite recounts her interaction with the Queen to Claire and Madame D’Artois. Claire refuses the dowry, as she would rather help with the school. As promised, the Queen writes them a charter. The women continue to teach the Montforts, and when the Queen prepares to leave, they tell the children about their plans to leave for Nontron.

Roberval’s man Henri arrives with a message. Roberval hopes Marguerite will remember him, and he plans to travel again if he can find the funds. Marguerite is incredulous that Roberval would ask her for money, so she tells Henri that she has no response. Lady Katherine helps the women prepare for their journey, and she hires a guard and guide to protect them on the road. Anne Montfort tries to buy Marguerite’s bear claw, but Marguerite refuses to part with the cherished treasure.

Lady Katherine and the children see the women off, but the young girls are too sad to say goodbye. As the women ride through the countryside, Marguerite imagines what they will teach the children at their school: reading and writing, virtues and scripture, but also fearlessness.