On a Sunday in December, Sarah and Polly visit Earthshine, Barbara Burton’s alpaca farm. On the way there, they consider relocating to the country, but Polly and Mark love living in the city. Sarah invites Polly and Mark to spend Christmas with her and her two stepsons, and Polly ponders the weight of another Christmas without a child.

Barbara leads the tour with Polly, Sarah, and a small group. She is very knowledgeable about the alpacas, who are gentle, curious, lovely creatures. After the tour ends, Sarah goes to the farm store to shop, leaving Barbara alone with Polly. Barbara knows who Polly is, having seen her name on the tour list. She thanks Polly for her kindness to Talia but assures her that she isn’t her mother. Polly agrees that she’s realized that the test was faulty, yet she is glad it brought her to Talia. Barbara says that she is a “healer” and recommends that Sarah see a doctor immediately.

Sarah gives each book club member a sweater from Earthshine, but Polly doesn’t tell Sarah or anyone about what Barbara said. In February, Mark and Polly visit his family. While everyone else is out skiing, Polly stays back with Mark’s mother, Lou. Polly asks Lou for advice on how to help Josephine, whose mother has come to visit, saying that Josephine is struggling in college and may drop out. Lou says that Emily went through something similar. Polly considers asking Lou about Barbara’s warning, but she doesn’t. Sarah has been in remission from cancer for four years and had her most recent physical in September. Polly believes that Barbara was wrong.

At Easter, Polly tells Emily about Barbara’s cryptic prophecy, and she is skeptical of anything mystical. Polly also tells Mark, and he says that since Sarah is already going to regular doctor appointments, knowing what Barbara said wouldn’t change anything. Still, Polly worries, especially since she would not have met Mark if it weren’t for Sarah inviting her to a party that he was attending.

Mark and Polly meet with their fertility specialist, Dr. Betz, for “The Talk,” which is code for having exhausted all their options since Polly is opposed to surrogacy or egg donors. After the appointment, she and Mark go for burgers, and Polly sobs at the table.

Polly notices that Sarah is losing weight rapidly, and on a walk together, Sarah reveals that her cancer has returned in her brain and is terminal. Polly confesses that Barbara warned her, and Sarah says that Barbara told her, too. She doesn’t want to tell the rest of the book club because they are coming to her home in June for a trip. Later, at Sarah’s house, Polly is emotional about Sarah’s diagnosis; Jamie assumes that it’s from her hormone injections, but she explains that she and Mark have stopped fertility treatments indefinitely. After they leave, Jamie tells Polly that she’s a “crap liar” and guesses that Sarah is sick.

In July, a fierce storm hits, causing a tree to fall on Mark’s parents’ home. No one is injured, but it leaves Lou shaken. Sarah insists that Mark’s parents stay in her cottage until their home is safe. Mark and Polly help them pack, drive them to the cottage, and then return to the city.

Polly stays busy most of the summer, traveling back and forth from Sarah’s cottage to the city while her in-laws’ home is being repaired. She learns that Josephine is at a residential facility called “The Refuge” for treatment of what her parents viewed as “suicidal ideations”; Josephine said that she would rather die than return to Harvard. She explains to Polly that she only went to Harvard because it was expected of her; while she was there, she was miserable. Josephine reveals to Polly that all her students love her and see her as “the mother they wish they had” (160). They all suspected she was having fertility issues and were hopeful that she would become a mother somehow, someday.

Polly stays for lunch, and Josephine says that she doesn’t intend to return to Harvard despite her parents’ expectations. She wants to pursue a life of “joy,” which Polly says is possible. Polly shares her journey to becoming a teacher at Windsor despite the expectation that she should teach in higher education. She assures Josephine that she can find the joy she seeks.

Polly visits Jack. He is noticeably declining, barely speaking during their visit. The nurse says that he often chokes on his food, another sign of decline with dementia. Polly leaves sobbing and runs into her mother. She shares the news about Sarah and her sadness over losing her father and her best friend. Mary reveals that she was diagnosed with encapsulated breast cancer when Polly was away studying abroad. Doctors removed the tumor, and she required no further treatment. Polly is overwhelmed that she never knew about it, but her mother insists that there was no reason to tell her. Taking advantage of this rare moment of vulnerability, Polly asks her mother why she and her father considered having her ears surgically altered. Her mother explains that she was getting bullied at school, but when the bullying stopped, they opted to leave her ears alone. Polly says that she fears Edgemere wants to move her father to C wing, but her mother says that she “will not permit it” (170).