In Paris, Varinka, her mother, and Max visit an exclusive Lanvin shop. The sales associate is rude and dismissive, but Varinka’s mother shows the woman some of her needlework designs and critiques the clothes on display. The woman asks Varinka’s mother to come back during the week. Varinka’s mother is pleased with the arrangement, but Varinka is critical. She wants her mother to stay home with Max while she goes out with Radimir. On their way home, they meet Radimir in the street. Varinka introduces them, and Radimir tells Varinka where he’ll be for the rest of the day. Later that day, Varinka and Taras bring Max to the local primary school to enroll. The headmistress is distrustful of them, but Taras threatens her into accepting Max. Afterwards, Varinka meets Radimir and they go to a restaurant together. As they’re talking, Taras arrives and pulls Varinka away.

New York celebrates the end of the war, but Eliza hears nothing from Merrill or Sofya. She plans to travel to Paris to search for them. At a benefit market for Eliza’s refugee relief, Cook arrives and tells Eliza what happened at the Streshnayva estate. After he was shot, he was rescued by foragers who nursed him back to health. He recuperated in Paris, then joined a friend who was traveling to New York. Soon after, Eliza receives a package from Sofya in the post: inside is an heirloom bracelet shaped like a serpent. Sofya has hidden her father’s finance ministry documents inside the bracelet. There is a note included which says, “See you in our favorite city” (308). Eliza makes plans to leave for Paris.

Sofya reaches Paris, a city filled with remnants of the war. She reaches Eliza’s Paris apartment and tries to enter, but the concierge sends her away. Sofya leaves her horse at a nearby stable, promising to return in one week. Then she searches for a place to stay, coming to an affordable lodging house that promises her a bed and a job. Once she goes to her room, Sofya meets an old school friend, Oxana, who reveals the boarding house is a brothel and no beds are available. However, she tells Sofya there may be an opening for a collections agent. Sofya speaks with the Madame and earns herself the job. The next day, she goes around town collecting debts. One of the men she visits is Taras, and Sofya learns where her son is being kept.

Varinka and her mother argue about Max; Varinka wants her mother to take care of the child while she spends time with Radimir, but Varinka’s mother is working and tells her Max isn’t her responsibility. They run into an old friend of Varinka’s mother, and the two elder women go off together. At home, Max becomes increasingly detached. Varinka and her mother discuss her mother’s new job; she is finally becoming appreciated. Radimir arrives to invite Varinka out and charms her mother into staying home with Max. He takes Varinka to the Louvre and they discuss a painting of Cupid and Psyche; they kiss before exploring the rest of Paris.

Eliza arrives in Paris. When she comes to her apartment, her housekeeper informs her that a Russian visitor came by but was turned away. Eliza goes searching for Merrill, coming to a French American medical center, where a nurse directs her to another American hospital. The nurse reveals that Merrill is there, but that Eliza will have to come back later to visit. Suddenly, another nurse appears who recognizes Eliza from New York. She helps Eliza bypass the wards and shows her to Merrill’s room.

Sofya loiters around Taras and Varinka’s apartment, hoping to see Max. One day she goes to her favorite candy shop, À la Mère de Famille, but is turned away by the saleswoman. Sofya passes by a hair merchant who offers to buy her hair. A rich man enters and offers Sofya seven hundred francs for her hair, but he is rude to her, and Sofya refuses. Looking for more work, she enters a Russian cathedral which sits above a doll factory. However, she is horrified at the poor working conditions of the dollmakers. Sofya goes across the street to a nearby restaurant, hoping to get food for the workers. There she meets her family doctor, now working as a dishwasher. He arranges to send some food over. In the same restaurant, Sofya sees her cousin Karina playing the piano. They exchange news. Karina reveals her previous boyfriend has reached out to her and reconnected through a newspaper. In the newspaper, Sofya sees a letter for herself from her family; however, she has no family left to write to her.

Eliza approaches Merrill, who has been badly scarred by mustard gas. The doctor explains that although he’s badly injured, he’s on the road to recovery. Merrill wakes up and Eliza invites him back with her to run a local shop. They make plans to return home.

Varinka and Max read a newspaper with a photo of the tsar’s family on the front page. Max sees Olga in the photo and recognizes the similarity to his mother. Later, Varinka is reading magazines when a policeman arrives leading Max back home; he tried to run away with the newspaper, claiming to be looking for his mother. Some days later, Radimir brings Varinka to an amusement park. They sit on a romantic ride together, and Varinka tells Radimir the truth about Max. Radimir thinks Varinka should return Max to his mother, but Varinka refuses.

Sofya runs into Taras on the street and fears she’ll be recognized. The next day, she reads in the paper that Karina has been murdered. She goes to the funeral and remembers the other dead she has seen through her life. Driven to action, Sofya returns to the hair merchant and sells her hair for four hundred francs. She buys sweets from À la Mère de Famille, then arranges for the restaurant across from the doll factory to provide food for the workers. She names herself the factory’s patron and improves the workers’ conditions. Early the next morning, she is awoken by a familiar voice.

Varinka considers leaving Paris with Radimir, but she can’t leave Max behind. Taras arrives and handcuffs Varinka so she can’t leave, hiding the key. He tells her that he’s seen Sofya walking around, and that he tried to catch her with a letter in the newspaper but it didn’t work. He asks Varinka to spy on her, but she refuses. Taras leaves, and Max reveals the location of the key so Varinka can get free. She and her mother and Max then go to the park, where Varinka and her mother can talk freely. Varinka’s mother confronts her about her relationship with Taras. Varinka admits that Taras wants to sleep with her, and that he blames her for arousing him. Her mother encourages her to leave, saying she has foreseen that Varinka and Radimir are both in danger. She believes Taras has been murdering women around Paris. Varinka agrees to leave the city.

Sofya is astonished to see Luba, whom she thought was dead, waking her. Luba explains how she survived the bandits’ attack: Mrs. Astronovich let her out before the others were killed. They fill each other in on what has happened in each of their lives while they’ve been apart. Luba plans to break into Taras’s house to retrieve Max. Later that day, Sofya waits outside while Luba goes inside, dressed as a maid. While Sofya watches impatiently, Taras comes home, and Sofya gets ready to go in after her sister.

Sofya knocks on the front door and is greeted by Luba and Varinka’s mother. Luba explains what happened: Varinka’s mother recognized her and, wanting to help, gave her Max’s enrollment papers. When Taras came home, Varinka’s mother pretended Luba was a maid. Luba and Sofya go to the primary school and see Max in the playground. They go inside and ask the headmistress to release Max. The headmistress admits that Taras threatened her, and she will be in danger if she lets Max go. Sofya and Luba are forced to leave without him.

Eliza goes to the doll factory to meet the women supplying the crafts to New York. She introduces herself to the workers and thanks them for their efforts. One worker tells them about their benefactor, a woman who is related to the tsar. She brings Eliza across the street to the restaurant, where Eliza meets Sofya and Luba; they fill each other in on their experiences. Sofya reveals the documents hidden in Eliza’s bracelet, which they can use to hire protection for Max’s headmistress. Eliza and Sofya go to visit a friend of Eliza’s mother, a former officer with diplomatic influence. They exchange the financial information for protection at the school. On their way out, Sofya asks for information about Afon. The officer tells her that Afon and his men were killed, then taken back to be buried on their homeland.

Varinka gets Max ready for school. He is grumpy and tells her he has memories from Russia. On her way home, Varinka encounters Radimir, who proposes to Varinka and asks her to leave later that night. She goes home to pack, then goes to Taras and handcuffs him to the bed. She tells him she is leaving and that their arrangement was wrong; she reveals that she knows Taras is her half-brother—the son of her father and his mistress—and that Taras killed their father after their father caught Taras watching Varinka in the bath. Varinka leaves, finally free.

Eliza and Sofya return to the primary school. The headmistress confirms she’s received a police guard, but she is cautious about releasing Max to a stranger. They invite him into the room, but Max shies away from everyone. Varinka arrives to take Max away, and he hides behind his teacher. At first, Varinka pretends not to know Sofya, but she is drawn into a confrontation and berates Sofya for planning to leave without her. She admits that Max isn’t her son, and the headmistress calls for the officer. However, Sofya shows mercy and allows Varinka to leave. Sofya earns Max’s trust by singing the sailing song they once sang together, and together they go back to Eliza’s home.

Varinka goes to a bridge crossing the river and wonders if Max will remember her. She takes the key to Taras’s handcuffs and drops it into the river, then goes to meet Radimir and begin her new life.

Eliza makes arrangements for them all to return to America, while Max gets reacquainted with his family. Before they go, Sofya returns to the stable where she left her horse; the stablewoman won’t release her because Sofya was gone more than a week. The stablewoman’s daughter appears and says she’s grown too attached to the house, so Sofya agrees to leave her horse in the daughter’s care while she’s in America.

It is 1920, and Sofya, Luba, and Max have come to live in Eliza’s house in America. They prepare for a benefit concert for orphaned Russian children, which Luba and Caroline are helping to organize. Sofya, Luba, and Max are all changing their names to avoid detection; Sofya chooses Vivian, Luba chooses Lyra, and for Max they choose Serge. Sofya and Max stay home from the concert, and while everyone else is out, Cook comes to visit her. He’s become a certified chef and is planning to open his own restaurant. He wants Sofya to be with him, and she asks him to be patient with her grief.

Eliza and the family go to visit her freshly renovated country house. They plan to start a garden and begin keeping animals there. Eliza and Caroline explore the new house and agree that Henry would be very happy with it. Eliza goes to visit Merrill, who is now running the general store. However, she’s worried she’s not yet ready to let go of Henry. She returns to her barn, which she’s been avoiding since his death, and speaks to him about moving forward. She moves her wedding rings to her right hand and meets Merrill, knowing she will carry both loves with her into her life.

Luba reflects on her move to America, and the activities of her family. Max has become a young apprentice to Cook, and Sofya hopes to be able to return to Russia. She and Cook are beginning a relationship, and Luba has begun seeing the police officer Maddox. She often thinks about her family and her experiences in Russia but does her best to move forward into her new American life.