The afternoon after Elliott discovered her with Daniel, Reese sees a beautiful new girl checking into the resort and feels envious of her confidence. Later, while taking Mae and Cass to the pool, Reese spots Daniel skimming leaves from the water. As she approaches, she notices the new girl lounging poolside. Daniel is completely mesmerized by her. When the girl opens her eyes and sees him watching, they lock gazes. Daniel waves, she smiles and waves back, and he waves again. The girl laughs, delighted. Reese feels physical pain from jealousy and heartbreak, realizing Daniel is captivated by someone else. The moment makes Reese feel abruptly excluded from a world she thought she had just entered, and her hope fades into humiliation.

At the police station, Detective Evans questions Wyatt alone with Courtney’s permission. Evans later reports that Wyatt maintained his story but could not explain the missing Benadryl or discrepancies about his dreams. Wyatt is not arrested, and an officer remains stationed outside their cottage for safety. That evening, Courtney visits the Matthewses. When she mentions Daniel lives on Moon Road, Joanna becomes emotional, revealing that Kylie’s friend, Abby, also lived there and that Kylie’s bike was found in nearby woods.

Joanna expresses guilt for not recognizing that Kylie spent the summer at Abby’s house because of a crush on Daniel across the street. She recalls finding searches on Kylie’s phone about boys and kissing but never questioning her daughter about them. Sam comforts Joanna, insisting she was a good mother who could not have prevented what happened. While examining photographs on the refrigerator, Courtney notices a resemblance between Kylie and Reese in their hair and eyes. Joanna whispers that it must be Daniel’s type, and Courtney realizes the girls may not have been chosen randomly. The visit leaves Courtney with a sharpened fear: The pattern might be deliberate. Joanna desperately says the police need to find Daniel and make him pay.

Emily organizes a family baseball game. Elliott, who claimed a migraine all day, waits to speak with Reese privately. He grabs her arm and insists they talk about the previous night. Reese pulls away, calls him a creep, and accuses him of being a child predator before joining the others. During the game, Reese is distracted by thoughts of Daniel and the new girl, recalling Skylar’s advice that boys lose interest after getting what they want. Wyatt taunts her poor playing while Elliott watches angrily. After the game, Reese takes a separate path through the woods and overhears voices. She sees Daniel giving the new girl a bracelet and saying they must make the most of their week together—the exact line he used on Reese.

Devastated, she runs back and tells Emily she has a stomachache. On the porch, Reese overhears the adults discussing her, with Elliott suggesting her moodiness could indicate drug use. Emily considers checking on her, but Elliott dissuades her. Reese cries herself to sleep. She wakes at 2:30 in the morning and sees a figure in the trees. Lightning reveals Daniel approaching the porch, angry she stood him up. When Reese says she saw him with the other girl, he dismisses her and tries to lure Reese outside. She refuses, and he becomes cruel, mocking her appearance and saying no one thinks she is pretty. He threatens she will regret rejecting him before backing away. Reese sees the glowing end of a joint and realizes he remains in the trees, watching her.

Mae cries for Emily in the morning. Courtney tells a tense Elliott that they can retrieve belongings from Emily and Nolan’s cottage. Walking there, Courtney remembers that Elliott and Reese had a long, private conversation in the kitchen the night before Reese disappeared. She asks what they discussed. Elliott reacts angrily, dismisses the question, and speaks cruelly of Reese in the past tense. When he opens the cottage door, they are confronted by an uncleaned crime scene with bloodstains still on the walls and stairs. The metallic smell is overwhelming and visceral. Elliott gags, and Courtney immediately leaves, shaken by the stark reminder of what happened inside.

Reese wakes to find Daniel inside on the porch with her. She screams, but he lunges across the room, clamping a hand over her mouth while holding a knife. He gets into bed with her and begins touching her under her shirt. When she tells him to leave, he refuses and presses the flat blade to her throat, ordering her to remove her pants. As he climbs on top of her, a noise from inside distracts him. Reese uses the moment to knock the knife from his hand. They both scramble for it, but she gets there first and brandishes it.

The family leaves the resort and checks into a rundown motel. Wyatt says he will sleep on the floor. While Courtney showers, the misaligned bathroom door leaves a gap; she sees Wyatt watching her. She does not tell Elliott. Detective Evans visits the motel and reports that the bloody fingerprints found at the crime scene are not in their database. He adds that the blood on Reese’s sweatshirt belonged to Daniel Clarke. Evans says Daniel has returned and has an alibi corroborated by bank statements and traffic cameras. He mentions knowing Daniel from school and describes him as a loner with a history of non-violent offenses. Daniel claims Reese came at him with a knife and stabbed him; Evans notes Daniel has knife wounds on his hand. Evans states with certainty that Daniel could not have committed the murders because he was already out of state by the night they occurred.

In a flashback to the day of the murders, Reese finds drops of Daniel’s blood on the porch floor the morning after his attack and hides them with a rug. She hides the bloody knife in a nightstand drawer and tells Emily she will no longer sleep on the porch, moving into Mae’s bed.

That night, the Grays come over for dinner. Reese discovers Mae and Cass took her phone and posted an old, embarrassing photo of her and Skylar on Instagram. Cruel comments flood in, leaving Reese enraged and humiliated. She threatens the girls. In the kitchen, Elliott confronts Reese, asking for a truce and demanding she promise not to spread lies about him. Nolan interrupts before she can fully respond. Reese deletes the post and all her Instagram photos. Elliott loudly announces he plans to go fishing early the next morning. Mae and Cass arrange a sleepover at the Grays’ cottage.

Alone in her room, Reese feels isolated. Wyatt enters and taunts her about having no friends and Daniel leaving her. Reese escapes to the porch to be alone. Emily scolds her without asking what is wrong. Reese reveals Wyatt sells their grandmother’s silver to fund gambling and deals drugs. Emily laughs, disbelieving. Wyatt denies everything, and Emily believes him over Reese. Furious, Reese tells Emily she hates her and wishes she would die, then runs upstairs.

Courtney lies awake all night at the motel, cycling through suspicions about Wyatt and Elliott. During the night, Wyatt sleepwalks and urinates in a corner of the room. In the morning, she and Elliott agree to a truce. After he goes to shower, Courtney finds her phone dead and quietly retrieves his iPad, stepping over a sleeping Wyatt. She sees Elliott’s earlier search for Pearl Lake’s depth and learns the lake has low clarity and steep drop-offs. In his browsing history, she finds he visited the “Help Find Kylie Matthews” Facebook page and, from his account, posted a photo of Reese asking if this is Kylie, including their cottage address. The post is dated the night before Reese disappeared, meaning Elliott knew about Kylie before Courtney told him. She recalls that Elliott suggested this resort because he had been there years earlier for a bachelor party and wonders if he was at the resort when Kylie disappeared—and whether he was involved.

After the Grays leave, Reese comes downstairs and finds Emily crying in the kitchen. Reese apologizes for what she said. Emily reveals she knows Reese was telling the truth about Wyatt because she checked his phone. She confesses she gave Wyatt an Ambien, pretending it was Benadryl, to help him sleep. They sit on the sofa for a heart-to-heart. Emily explains she is hard on Reese because she worries about her and sees her younger self in her. She confides she does not think she ever really loved Nolan and married him because she feared being alone. She plans to ask Elliott the next morning for help filing for divorce. Emily advises Reese to slow down and enjoy her youth. Reese admits she and Skylar are no longer friends. Emily is sympathetic and reassures her that life after high school will be better. Emily hugs Reese, and Reese rests her head on her mother’s shoulder, feeling close to her for the first time in years. As darkness falls, Reese feels a mounting sense of fear.

Elliott exits the bathroom and asks what Courtney is looking at on the iPad. The search for the lake’s depth makes Courtney realize no one has searched the lake for Reese. She lies, saying she was mindlessly scrolling, and turns off the iPad. Elliott says he will find coffee after he gets dressed. Once he is gone, Courtney wakes Cass and Mae. Remembering her promise to Emily to protect her children, she decides to wake Wyatt as well. She tells him they need to leave to talk to the police. Courtney quickly gets ready, and they head outside. In the parking lot, she discovers Elliott has already left and has taken their car.