The narrative flashes back to tell the story of how Father Andrew became a priest and how he ended up working for Paul Alabaster.

In the flashback, Father Andrew endures the seven-hour sexual harassment training at Our Lady of Suffering, learning about all the ways he and the other employees aren’t supposed to touch members of the congregation. He recalls his thesis on female sensuality in French film, thinking that society has become far too uptight. The instructor asks him about his reasons for becoming a priest, and he tells a story about hearing a lecture and being inspired. In reality, he went to a poor country full of beautiful beaches and jungles with a college girlfriend during spring break. They had too much to drink, and he ran over someone. When he got home, he fell into despair. He confessed to a visiting priest and vowed to spend his life atoning.

When Father Andrew begins offering spiritual advice about a “return to traditional values” on YouTube (217), he attracts Alabaster’s notice. Alabaster visits his office and tells him that change can be enticing but risks compromising principles. He confesses that he has no interest in aging or “withering,” and he asks to hire Father Andrew as a private consultant. Alabaster says that they can help each other, though Father Andrew demurs. Alabaster says that he’s been fortunate enough to travel a lot, even “down dark roads in vast jungles” (220). Alabaster invites him to a party that night and then threatens blackmail by explicitly referring to the vehicular manslaughter.

The narrative returns to the present. After his windfall, Bud decides to take his daughters to see his father. Bud was hesitant to cash Alabaster’s check, but feels it’s okay to use the money to benefit his family. He invested some for the girls and then bought each daughter and Miss Winkle a nice present.

At the airport, the family learns that Louise is on the no-fly list, and airport security escorts them off the premises. When they get home, Bud goes up to the treehouse and finds a collection of substances and devices as well as a pyrotechnics manual. Louise says that yourstruly was coaching her to make a baker’s bomb to blow up the beauty pageant. She explains that yourstruly got in trouble with the government and had to give up a list of names. When Bud asks who yourstruly is, Louise says that he’s her boyfriend.

After this, Bud and Catherine declare a truce. Louise is suspended from school, and word gets around that she was planning to bomb the pageant. The house falls into greater disorder, and Catherine questions herself as a mother. She decides to address the downstairs bathroom first, and she finds water leaking under the sink and mold growing. She tells Bud that they need to remodel, and he suggests that she’s looking for something easier to deal with than their children. They devolve into unproductive arguing again until Bud finally relents.

Catherine finds the name and number for a local contractor on a community bulletin board. She fantasizes about what “Remy” might look like, but when Remy shows up, she’s a woman. Remy is strikingly beautiful, which irks Catherine, but she gets right to work. Catherine reflects on the failed “arrangement” in which Bud has found partnership and fulfillment and she’s found only lack. Remy finds some pills in a baggie tucked behind the bathroom mirror, and Catherine claims that she has no idea what they do, so they take them.

Catherine and Remy each take one blue and one yellow pill, and then they lie in the grass in the backyard. It’s daytime, but the moon is out, and Remy tells Catherine that it’s called an “errant moon.” They talk about children, and Remy suggests that being a mother is the most profound and intensely creative role. Catherine loves this perspective that she’s an artist simply because she’s a mother. She and Remy kiss.

Irritated with Abigail’s relationship with Wes, Tibet thinks that love is a conspiracy. She decides to research the invitation, and using its calligraphy, she traces it to one of six houses in Eastern Europe. She locates its origin and, over the phone, convinces the calligrapher to give her a list of all the invitees. The entire list is male except Abigail. In her conspiracy forums, she solicits information about Alabaster. Soon, she has to go to school, and Abigail warns her not to get too carried away with “online freaks.” Tibet warns Abigail not to go to Alabaster’s party, but Abigail thinks the rumors about him are just talk. Tibet makes her promise that she’ll buy a weapon from a girl who sells them in the bathroom. When Tibet tries to consider what is true and what isn’t, all her theories merge together, and she starts to question the nature of truth itself. Ultimately, she decides that she doesn’t really need to know the truth about certain things, as long as they don’t directly affect her. She knows that she does love her friend, though, and she doesn’t want Abigail anywhere near Alabaster.

Four days after Wes was fired from Alabaster Manor, the investigator takes him to a cargo container in the harbor. The container has been broken into with a crowbar, and they find food and water inside, along with scratches around the lock. It’s clear that someone was living in it. The man says that he’ll send Wes his bill, indicating that he is finished looking into this matter.

Since camp, Harper feels like she’s been in limbo between being a child and a woman. She fears being sent back, so she hasn’t done anything since her return. Her and Louise’s phones were confiscated as punishments, and they keep ringing from the drawer in the kitchen, and Harper and Louise realize that Tibet is trying to reach them, so they pick up. Tibet says that Abigail went to a party at Alabaster Manor and isn’t answering her phone; Tibet believes that the billionaire is running a child-trafficking ring and that Abigail is in danger. Harper says that they’ll take it from here.

Harper finds Abigail’s diary, which mentions the party. Bud and Catherine are both out on dates, and both left cash for the girls for dinner. Harper grabs the cash and calls a cab. They go to Wes’s apartment, introduce themselves, and tell him where Abigail is. Marshall jiggles a panel loose from the wall and retrieves a massive rifle. Louise is shocked; Harper ogles it in awe. Wes, Marshall, Harper, and Louise go in Wes’s truck to the manor, and Wes calls in a massive IOU from Tibet’s cousin to let them in at the gate. Wes tells the girls to wait in the truck, but they don’t. They notice that the party is full of masked men. They make eye contact with a figure in the hallway and are shocked to recognize Father Andrew. He tells them to get out of there, but they say they have to find Abigail. Suddenly, everyone around them begins chanting in unison and moving in one direction.