Serena attends a British Museum reception with Ben for an exhibition on female rage. She reflects on her own suppressed anger and realizes she misses Fliss’s nonjudgmental nature. When Ben snatches his phone back after texting a photo of them to his social media manager, Kennedy, Serena grows suspicious. The exhibition features art about words associated with women and a sculpture of Lilith, Adam’s disobedient first wife. The artwork impresses Serena and makes her think of her daughter Cosima. She recalls Cosima once asking whether a person could tell a new story about who they wanted to be, and regrets having been too distracted to engage. She resolves to call Cosima and listen more carefully. During the event, she is also disturbed by crude sexual texts from Andrew Jarvis and placates him by sending photos of her breasts.

Balaclava-clad eco-protesters storm the exhibition, and Serena initially mistakes them for terrorists before realizing they are activists chanting about fossil fuels. As Ben hurries them out, Serena stoops and notices a pair of scuffed Dr. Martens boots with orange laces she recognizes as Cosima’s. A protester with Cosima’s eyes looks back at her.

Serena’s fear for her daughter quickly turns to anger at Cosima’s betrayal. Ben admits he already knew about Cosima’s involvement in the group and had been briefed a week earlier. Serena is stung by this secrecy, realizing that Ben’s priority is protecting his leadership campaign rather than their family. She sees that she will never be the rebellious Lilith but is fated to remain Eve.

Richard Take discovers that his assistant, Terri, has scheduled a meeting with Martin Gilmour for him. The Conservative leadership race has narrowed to Ben Fitzmaurice and the right-wing Graham Bunn, with Ben as the frontrunner. Richard recalls a campaign meeting at Tipworth where Ben had explained that Martin was his “cultural advisor,” providing access to demographics they otherwise lacked. Jarvis made antigay jokes, claimed that Martin had been in love with Ben for years, and insisted he would “never be one of us” (218). Richard feels moral unease about Ben’s circle and wishes he could consult his wife, Hannah.

At the restaurant, Martin gives Richard a brown folder, claiming it contains everything needed to bring Ben down. Inside is a police report detailing Fliss Fitzmaurice’s rape allegation against Andrew Jarvis, along with a memo from a senior police officer documenting Ben’s instructions to suppress the investigation. Martin says he obtained the files through a contact with access to an undercover officer, and suggests Richard uses the information to advance his own political ambitions.

When Richard asks why Martin is betraying Ben, Martin states that the Fitzmaurices despise him, and he returns the sentiment. Also, Fliss was the only member of the family who was ever kind to him. He reveals that Fliss’s death was suicide, not an accident, and that she left a note included in the folder. He also confesses that Ben killed a woman in a drunk driving accident, and Martin took the blame in exchange for a payoff.

Cosima reflects on the disastrous British Museum protest, where she unexpectedly encountered her parents. Meadow, a fellow activist, is furious to learn that Cosima’s father is Ben Fitzmaurice. Seeing her father’s disappointment and her mother’s recognition paradoxically makes Cosima feel loved for the first time in years. After the paint is sprayed, she escapes through an emergency exit and quickly changes clothes in a stairwell before leaving the museum.

Cosima takes a train to Cambridge and makes her way to her father’s former college. In the bar, she is joined by a friendly student named Alfie. Cosima tells him she is looking for Martin Gilmour, an old friend of her father’s. When Alfie reveals that Martin lectures at the less prestigious University of Southern Anglia rather than Cambridge, Cosima abruptly leaves and begins walking there.

Martin is at home watching television with his cat Maurice when university security calls to say Cosima Fitzmaurice has arrived. He reluctantly invites her in, hastily hiding his scrapbooks of press clippings about Ben. She recounts her involvement with the eco-activists and the British Museum protest. Martin asks whether her activism is truly about the cause or anger at her parents; she admits it is both.

Cosima’s criticism of her parents’ generation prompts Martin to reflect on how his mother’s cruelty during her dementia made him wary of love—a defensive strategy that failed only with Ben. When Cosima asks if his vendetta against her family is ongoing, he admits it is. He has simply grown better at disguising his rage and waiting for the right moment to act. Martin confirms he has read the files about Fliss’s rape and reveals that he has passed them to Richard Take. Hearing this, Cosima calls the plan “perfect.”

In the afterlife, Fliss’s spirit experiences no anger, resentment, or pain—only love. She feels liberated and unburdened, recognizing this blissful peace as the transcendence she had spent her entire life chasing through drugs and alcohol. Her soul passes into the light.