While Julia goes to meet Sam/Jackson, Piper meets up with Nicolas. He surprises her with a romantic picnic at the Champ de Mars, complete with champagne, cheese, and rillettes. As they talk, Nicolas quotes Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” (266), and Piper confides that she has gone on dates, but nothing has ever “stuck,” fearing commitment would limit her world. Nicolas reassures her that she is still becoming who she is meant to be and that the right relationship won’t feel confining. They kiss.

At Le Maison Grog, Jackson tells Julia she has inspired him to write a song. Steeling herself, Julia reveals that she has terminal pancreatic cancer and only has a few months left to live. Jackson is visibly shocked and emotional. After asking a few questions about her condition, he abruptly excuses himself to use the restroom. When he doesn’t return after several minutes, Julia concludes that he has fled and leaves the bar, heartbroken.

In the bar’s bathroom, Jackson weeps. His emotional reaction is triggered by the memory of his own father’s death from cancer. He struggles to compose himself before returning to Julia. When he finally goes back upstairs, he discovers she has already left. Panicked, Jackson runs to her hotel, but the front desk clerk rings Julia’s room and gets no answer. Jackson frantically searches other locations they visited together before returning to her hotel lobby to wait for her.

That night, Russ finally finds his missing phone and listens to Shelby’s voicemail. Hurt and confused, he sends her a text message, insisting he thought their connection was real and asking if they can talk. By the next morning, he still has not received a reply.

Shelby wakes up beside her husband, Brandon, feeling irritable and questioning her decision to reconcile. She reads Russ’s text message but doesn’t answer. Confronting Brandon about his true motives for flying to Paris, she insists he join her for breakfast with her friends, Vanessa and Corinne, to prove his sincerity.

Julia wakes up devastated by what she perceives as Jackson’s rejection the night before. She quickly resolves to put him out of her mind and focus on spending time with Piper. 

Meanwhile, Kayla meets Nadim at the Grande Mosquée de Paris. Inside the mosque’s café, Nadim shares pastries and tells her a story about the mosque’s rector, who devised a plan during World War II to forge papers and hide Jewish refugees. Nadim’s great-grandfather was a forger recruited by the rector and later took in refugees at his family home; by some accounts, the mosque saved over 1,000 Jewish lives. Nadim explains that he wanted to share this story of shared humanity and love to counteract the rejection she has faced from her own father. He tells her she is a kind and special person, deepening their connection.

At Café Le Petit Pont, Shelby’s friend Vanessa is openly hostile toward Brandon. Shelby’s doubts about their marriage solidify when she catches Brandon staring at another woman. Realizing with certainty she no longer wants to be married to him, she confronts him at the table. She tells Brandon that their relationship is over and she wants to build her own life without him. When she walks out, leaving him with her friends and declaring that his problems are no longer her concern, Melanie overhears her from a nearby table and finds her own courage to leave her unhappy marriage to Gilles.

Later, Piper and Julia arrive at the same café to meet Nicolas, who surprises them by revealing he has arranged for a limousine to take them to the concert that evening. He also makes a sincere promise to Julia that he will be there to support Piper in the difficult months ahead.

Shelby goes to Le Maison Grog and finds Russ. She explains that her husband returned to Paris but that she has chosen not to reconcile with him. She tells Russ that she has deep feelings for him but needs time alone to figure out who she is before starting a new relationship. She expresses hope that he might be willing to wait for her. Russ kisses her and agrees, saying he would like that very much.

At the concert arena, Jackson meets with Henry in his greenroom to finalize their plans for the concert. Henry will accompany Jackson on piano for both a new song Jackson wrote for Julia and for “City of Light.” Jackson plans to open with the new song so that Julia will understand his apology before the lights go up and she recognizes him onstage.

When Piper and Julia arrive at the concert, the lights are already down, and the opening act is mid-set. Julia notices that the concert posters look oddly like Sam but dismisses it as a coincidence. During a pause between songs, the opener announces their names from the stage and directs them to guest services, where they are given four front-row tickets and VIP passes, leaving them stunned and confused about who could have arranged the incredible upgrade.

Julia and Piper take their new front-row seats, where they find themselves next to Celeste, her grandson, Jean-Luc, and Melanie. Piper calls Nicolas and his friend in the parking lot and brings them using the extra pair of tickets Jackson included with theirs. When Jackson takes the stage, Julia is stunned to realize that the man she knew as Sam is actually Jackson Quick. He opens the show with a new song dedicated to Julia, performing a public apology for having misled her. Astonished, Piper turns to her mother. Julia explains that Jackson is the man she met in Paris but confesses that she didn’t recognize him because she was never actually a Jackson Quick fan as a teenager—she preferred Jon Bon Jovi.

Next, Jackson brings Henry onstage to play piano for “City of Light.” Celeste slowly begins singing the lyrics along with the music, and then says Henry’s name aloud—a brief moment of lucidity. However, she quickly becomes agitated and confused, and Jean-Luc escorts her out. Inspired by the raw emotion of the moment, Melanie definitively tells her husband, Gilles, that their marriage is over. Elsewhere in Paris, Vietnam veterans George and Lou walk hand-in-hand through the Champ de Mars, and Nadim and Kayla share their first kiss.

After the show, Jackson finds Julia backstage. He explains he used a fake name to feel normal and apologizes for his reaction to her diagnosis. He confesses he is falling in love with her and wants to spend whatever time she has left by her side. Julia accepts his apology, and they kiss, committing to each other.

Two months later, Jackson has put his tour on hold to be with Julia, whose health is declining. They return to Paris, where he proposes to her at Le Maison Grog in front of Piper and Nicolas. Julia joyfully accepts. At the same time, Shelby arrives back in Paris and goes to the bar. Having spent time on her own, she asks Russ on a date, and he happily agrees.

Henry has been living with Melanie and visiting Celeste every day at her assisted-living facility. After Celeste suffers a heart attack, Henry stays by her hospital bedside day and night. In her final moments, she has a last period of lucidity, recognizes Henry, and they reaffirm their lifelong love. She quotes a line from their song—“The world shatters around us […] But, still…we are here” (345)—before she passes away. Henry remains holding her hand and whispers the final lines of “City of Light” after she is gone.