In 1941, Nazi flags now fly over Paris. One day, Helaine notices women growing food in the park to feed their families. She meets Isa, a neighbor, and Isa invites her to help. The work gives Helaine purpose. Though Jews are now being arrested regularly, she comforts herself with the knowledge that they are not French citizens as she is. 

That night, Gabriel tells her he’s been fired for refusing to play Bruckner, a German composer, to appease the Germans. She respects his principles but worries about how they will support themselves. 

The next day, she watches as a Jewish man, a French citizen, is beaten and arrested; she can no longer pretend she is safe. Gabriel wants them to leave Paris, but Helaine will not go. She expresses a desire to see her parents, but Gabriel implores her not to. The next day, she goes anyway, but she spots a checkpoint on the road ahead. A police officer confronts her, demanding her papers. Just then, Gabriel appears, saying that a doctor called with her test results about some contagious disease, and the police officer steps away.

Gabriel says he made amends with the orchestra and was “invited” to tour Germany with a small group of musicians, though he doesn’t really have a choice. He points out that his participation will grant Helaine some protection; he’s been assured the Germans will leave her alone. The next morning, he gives her some cash, and she gives him half of the heart necklace.

In 1953, Louise drops the children off at their Aunt Beatrice’s house. She wonders if Bea is happy in her life as a widowed mother, or if she wants more, like Louise. She feels selfish leaving her family, but she knows she needs to do this for herself. Upon seeing the French coast, she notes that it is still marred from the war. After arriving, she leaves Ian a message with her hotel name.

Louise flashes back to France, 1944. She watches Franny perform and is inspired by Franny’s bravery, offering to take the pictures. Neither Franny’s nor Louise’s mother was particularly successful as a parent: Franny’s mom allowed men to assault her daughters, and Louise’s mom has an alcohol dependency. Franny admits that she prefers women to men. When Louise learns that Franny and Ian will continue into Germany, she offers to go with them.

In 1942, Jews are now forced to wear yellow stars and restricted to certain markets and shops. Helaine wishes she could see her mother but remembers that her mother hasn’t contacted her. 

One day, she gets a letter from Gabriel: It says only that he’s near the front, doing well, and misses her. She does not hear from him again. The garden becomes her lifeline until, one day, a new sign says Jews are forbidden to enter. Isa says she must continue gardening to feed her own family, and she gives Helaine a bag of turnips. Helaine feels the Germans are erasing her life. 

One day, she goes to the only market at which Jews are allowed to shop, and she spots her mother. Annette says that Helaine’s father was overseas when the war began, and he’s remained abroad; she tells Helaine that she can always come home, but Helaine doesn’t want to give up the life she fought for. She feels her mother ought to have chosen her over her father, while Annette is hurt that Helaine was willing to leave them. She walks away as though she cannot bear the sight of Helaine leaving again.

Helaine weeps and runs to the conservatory where Gabriel used to play, spotting his former director. The man asks how Gabriel is, and Helaine is surprised he does not know. He explains that Gabriel is no longer with the orchestra, and Helaine realizes she has no idea what he’s really doing. She goes to the police station and demands to see the chief, who used to be friends with her father. He informs her there is no record of Gabriel applying to travel, and a German officer arrests her for conspiring with an enemy of the Reich.

In 1953, Louise takes a cab to the building where Lévitan used to be. It is now an office building, and a secretary tells her there’s no one who can help her with the necklace. She goes across the street, hoping to find someone with information about the store, and the pharmacist says that Germans imprisoned Jews there during the war. His mother, Celeste, tells her the Jews were forced to sell goods the Germans plundered from Jewish homes. 

Louise wonders if the cellist with whom she saw Franny speaking had a connection there. Celeste demands that the office manager let Louise look around. Louise tells him about the necklace, but he says the store didn’t sell jewelry. Celeste tells Louise that she knows a man who was imprisoned in the store—Henri Brandon—and gives Louise his address. Louise orders a car to take her there tomorrow, then goes for a walk. When she returns, Ian is waiting for her.

Louise flashes back to Germany, 1944. The camp they visit next is for enlisted men, and “any pretense of decency was gone” (178). In this camp, Franny performs with a group of musicians, including a cellist, and Louise sees Franny speaking familiarly with him. Later, she sees Franny close to tears and pleading with Ian, and Franny confides in Louise that a prisoner asked her to deliver something to his wife in Paris. Franny implored Ian to have it delivered for her, but he refused because he doesn’t want to lose access to the prisoners entirely. He tells Louise that they have to be careful. 

That night, Franny goes for a walk, and Louise sees her talking to the cellist again; he gives her something. After Franny goes to sleep, Louise finds the half-heart necklace wrapped in Franny’s bag.

It is 1943. When the lights go on, Helaine realizes she is in Lévitan. She can tell her life will be better here than in Drancy, the nearby transit camp where Jews endure starvation and hard labor. Helaine quickly learns that there is shared responsibility among prisoners: Everyone is punished when one breaks the rules. 

She meets Miriam, another prisoner, who is haunted by memories of Drancy, and Miriam says Lévitan is for Jews with “some sort of privileged status” (191). Helaine finds a space in the wall where she can hide her necklace, and she begins a tally to count the days. The next day, she sorts “goods” plundered from Jewish homes for resale to Germans.

Miriam tells Helaine that they can send one letter per week and receive mail, but everything is censored. She writes to Gabriel to let him know where she is. Helaine soon learns that some prisoners intentionally sabotage goods. When Helaine participates in this, Miriam asks her to take some silver and leave it near the loading dock: It will pay the movers who secretly help them, and Louise feels she cannot refuse. 

On her way back to the dormitory, Maxim—a French guard who is working for the Germans—spots her, and she lies about going to the bathroom. Miriam warns Helaine never to allow herself to get caught alone with him.