Asher continues to pester Joanie with questions about Brian’s heritage. This irritates Leah, especially when she can sense that Joanie is tired of answering Asher’s questions. Leah and Joanie send him out to play with Joanie’s dog, Billy. Leah asks to use Joanie’s computer to check her homework. She opens the Gmail account she keeps secret from her parents and sees two new emails from David Jr.

David Jr. shares his experiences at Christian college and tells Leah that his parents have asked him to come home since he has no classes that week. The email also conveys David Jr.’s frustration with his father. In the second email, he checks in on Leah, having heard about Bethany’s disappearance and the trouble with Rhys and Chuck at the Rampart. Leah writes back to tell him where she is and to vent her frustration that she can’t call him because she doesn’t have a phone. Asher comes back into the house and confronts Leah over her secret emails. Leah urges him to keep quiet.

Joanie and Asher go on a longer walk to the creek while Leah stays behind to finish her “homework.” David Jr. sends Leah another email to say that he is passing by her location and he can visit her if she likes. He indicates that his parents have a frustrating reason for asking him to come home. Leah coordinates a meeting place with him. She then leaves a note behind to tell Joanie that she will return in several hours.

Leah sets out to meet with David Jr., thinking about the post-apocalyptic novel series she wants to write. Her novel idea focuses on a young couple who bring the Gospel to various communities, many of whom have adapted to the Apocalypse by forming lawless communities or fortress-like strongholds. Their interpretation of the Gospel is based on self-sacrifice and altruism. After meeting David Jr. at Bible Camp, she started to imagine herself and him as the young couple in her story.

Bethany calls Shane to tell her that she is coming back. Shane furiously rebukes her over the phone for making him travel to Grants Pass and Portland to look for her. He also rebukes her for involving Rhys and voices his concern that the FBI may soon raid the Rampart because of the shooting incident with Chuck. He promises that Bethany can redeem herself if she returns to him and brings the children with her. Bethany then reveals that Leah is missing, which turns Shane furious again. Bethany is calm the whole time, which makes Rhys ashamed that he withdrew from Bethany as she suffered with Shane. When Rhys expresses that Bethany doesn’t have to put up with Shane, Bethany retorts that she would rather not put up with Rhys’s disappointment in her. This stuns Rhys.

Rhys, Brian, and Bethany reunite with Joanie and Asher. Bethany deduces that Leah must be meeting with David Jr. when she discovers the existence of Leah’s secret Gmail account. Unsure of where they might have gone, Rhys, Bethany, and Asher wait in Bethany’s Spokane apartment for a sign of Leah’s whereabouts. The next morning, Rhys looks around the apartment and examines the Christian nationalist posters that Shane has hung in their home. Bethany comments that she and Shane often fight over the posters, as she wants them taken down.

Rhys yearns to break the silence between him and Bethany, but he has no idea what to say to her to reconcile their relationship. Thinking back to what she said on the road, he assures her that he isn’t disappointed in her. He admits that his self-exile has taught him that all the philosophy he has studied is irrelevant if he hasn’t used it to live for others. He admits that he saw her the day she discovered his affair and that he didn’t acknowledge it then because he was too ashamed of himself to admit that she had seen a different side of him. He apologizes for his many faults over the years, then speculates that the reason Bethany sent her children to him was either to send him a message or to say that she needed him. He affirms his willingness to be there for her for as much time as he has left. Bethany weeps and embraces him.

Bethany reflects on her reason for sending the kids to Rhys, wishing she could talk about it in therapy again. She almost gets angry thinking about all the things Rhys’s apology didn’t cover, but she recalls that Rhys showed his resolve to continue working through their reconciliation. Though she knows she cannot rely on him fully, she decides that giving him an opportunity to make up for lost time might be the thing that makes her life easier, given her present circumstances.

Rhys, Bethany, and Asher take Brian’s second car and drive in the direction of the Rampart, hoping that Leah might have gone there with David Jr. Rhys makes a detour at Lucy’s house and learns that Chuck checked himself out of the hospital after his surgery and went to stay with Lucy. Chuck comes out of the house to say hello. When Rhys explains that they are going to the Rampart, Chuck volunteers to come with them as backup. Rhys and Lucy protest since Chuck is still recovering. Rhys declines Chuck’s offer to borrow his gun for self-defense.

Pastor Gallen calls Bethany and apologizes for never reaching out to her before her family situation reached a crisis point. He informs her that neither David Jr. nor Leah is at the Rampart, though David Jr. called to say he was picking her up on the way home. Later, David Jr. informed his parents that he wasn’t coming home after all and has since stopped responding to their calls and messages. They cannot track his phone anymore, but they saw that his last known location was near the town of Springdale, close to the Kinnick property. This causes Bethany to suspect that the two are headed for Rhys’s house in the woods. Gallen apologizes over the situation, explaining that David Jr. is going through a difficult time. Gallen’s wife, Darlene, interrupts to explain their suspicion that David Jr. is gay. Darlene told David Jr. that the reason he was being called home was that Gallen wanted to send him to conversion therapy. This likely scared David Jr. off.

Bethany leaves Shane a message to say that they may find Leah soon. Rhys calls Joanie and shares their plan to look for the children at his house. Brian offers to go to the house instead since he is closer, but Rhys declines. As they approach the house, Rhys tells Bethany that it took some time for his isolation to affect him. During his second winter, he started to experience panic attacks, which caused him to travel to Springdale just so he could see people again. Bethany sympathizes with his impulse to move to the forest and shares her own experience of wanting to run away. Neither of them knows if that impulse can ever lead them to a satisfying destination.

Rhys elaborates that his affair hadn’t begun yet at the time Bethany saw him and Lucy together. He admits, however, that he was already hoping for it because he was in love with her. He was afraid of Bethany seeing this in him. His love for the people in his life gave him the misguided belief that they would be better off living without him, which he thinks may be the case with Bethany, based on what he has seen over the past few days.

Rhys, Bethany, and Asher arrive at Rhys’s house, where David Jr.’s car is parked. Leah exits the house and reunites with Bethany. Bethany tells her how great it was to hear Doug play her song. Bethany asks David Jr. about his situation with his parents, revealing what they told her. Leah and David Jr. deny that he is gay, explaining that David Jr. tried kissing Leah and enjoyed it. He explains away all the other evidence Darlene gave to support her suspicion. Asher keeps interrupting his explanations with questions, so Rhys suggests that they move the discussion inside. Leah makes Asher wait outside.