Margaret stops by Babcock’s Best Books on the morning of the next book club to ask Helen Babcock, one of the store’s owners, for suggestions for the club’s next read. Helen offers Margaret a number of recommendations, including A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft, The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, as well as fiction by Mary McCarthy, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Richard Yates, and more. Helen and Margaret discuss the extreme conformity expected of residents in Concordia: Margaret’s yard has been planted with birch trees, but Charlotte has not been allowed to do the same, despite actually wanting birch trees, because it doesn’t fit with the association’s landscaping plans.

Helen allows a delighted Margaret to borrow all the books she has recommended since she can’t afford to buy them all. Margaret also asks for books on Lawrence Ahlgern, and Edwin, Helen’s husband, manages to find one with a few pages on the artist. Margaret cannot afford to buy this one either, but she decides to buy a book on Ernest Hemingway instead, as a gift for Walt. Things have been distant between them lately, and she hopes the gift will break the ice.

Margaret reads about Ahlgern while waiting to pay for her books, and she wonders whether Charlotte is having an affair with him. She speculates that Howard’s near-constant absence and Charlotte’s banishment to the suburbs may be punishment for her infidelity.

Margaret leaves for her book club meeting, and Walt barely looks up. She leaves the gift-wrapped Hemingway book, a heart drawn on the wrapping, by his bedside table.

Charlotte’s daughter Denise opens the door for Margaret, scowling and displeased that she has arrived early. The living room is a mess, and Charlotte is furious that Denise has not tidied up yet. Denise asserts that she was doing it, but she is angry to be tasked with cleaning up Charlotte’s mess in the first place. Margaret intervenes, apologizing for arriving early and promising Denise that she will help; when Denise heads up to her room, Margaret prevents a livid Charlotte from following her.

Charlotte and her children manage to tidy up just enough for the book club. Charlotte reveals that Dr. Barry refuses to let her hire house help, believing that doing the work herself will be “therapeutic” and help her adjust to her role. In their moment of shared camaraderie, Margaret brings up her concerns about Ahlgern, but Charlotte brushes them away once again.

That evening, Viv announces to the group that she’s accepted a job with Dr. Giordano. Tony and the children have been exceptionally supportive, though she’s waiting to tell Tony about the baby until she settles into the job. Charlotte proclaims that everyone except her in the group is “gainfully employed.” When Margaret attempts to assuage her by complimenting her art, Charlotte sharply retorts that Margaret knows nothing about modern art. She immediately apologizes for her tone, claiming she just wants to be really good at her craft; Margaret, who feels the same way about her writing, empathizes.

A teary Bitsy suddenly asks the group if it’s normal to hate one’s husband. She tells the story of how she met King—she was a junior at college when King filled in for the vet at the barn her father worked at. He proposed marriage shortly after, but Bitsy declined as she, too, wanted to be a vet. However, when it came time to apply to medical school, none of her professors agreed to write her a recommendation letter despite her stellar grades, claiming no school would admit a female graduate. Even as Bitsy fought to make her case, her father died in an accident, falling off the barn roof and breaking his neck. King came to the funeral and visited her the next day; this time, with no income or job prospects to care for herself and her mother, Bitsy accepted King’s proposal. Despite his earlier proclamations of admiration for her way with horses and promises that she could complete her studies, she never got to.

Now, Bitsy asserts that despite King having been good to her throughout their marriage, ever since she read Friedan’s book, she has been angry at him. He has come to represent everything that stood in her way of becoming a vet.

Back home after the book club, Margaret reflects on the conflicts and tensions in each of Bettys’ marriages and wonders how they went so wrong. Walt is asleep in bed, the Hemingway book open to the middle on the nightstand; Margaret kisses his forehead gently, whispering, “I don’t hate you” (136).

Bitsy wakes up later than usual after the late night and many drinks with the Bettys. She discovers that King made breakfast for her, hopeful that her tiredness is due to pregnancy; she regretfully tells him that she is not. Bitsy now feels a little guilty about everything she told the Bettys the previous night. She reflects that King is good to her, and she is hopeful that having a child will help sort out the tension she feels in her marriage—the fertility doctor she visited proclaimed that there was nothing wrong with her, and conception is just a matter of time.

Bitsy, who has recently turned vegetarian, pauses before taking a bite of the eggs King made. When she asks, King reveals that he cooked them in bacon grease, and he is furious that Bitsy is upset about his disregard for her food preferences. He claims that his efforts to be kind are constantly neglected, and Bitsy immediately backtracks and apologizes. They make up before King leaves for work, after which Bitsy feeds the eggs to their dog and cats.

Margaret wakes up later than usual as well, and Walt is already up when she comes down to breakfast. He thanks her for the book and tells her he loves her before leaving for work. Margaret feels invigorated, and her spirits rise further when she receives a copy of A Woman’s Place in the mail. It contains her first printed column, with photographs of her; along with it, she receives her very first paycheck.

Bitsy arrives at the stables to discover that Delilah, Mrs. Graham’s horse, is unwell. Bitsy suspects laminitis, an inflammation of the tissue in the horse’s hooves. She immediately calls in King and Mrs. Graham. King confirms Bitsy’s suspicions and suggests that they put Delilah down, as laminitis can be very painful and has no treatment. Bitsy interrupts, claiming she has seen her father treat it with some success, especially when the condition is caught early. While there is no cure, laminitis can be managed, and Bitsy has an idea how.

Infuriated that Bitsy interrupted and contradicted him, King insults her, calling her a college dropout, and warns Mrs. Graham against trusting her word. Bitsy defiantly tells Mrs. Graham the whole truth, including how she never completed her education despite King’s promise. She says that despite being a college dropout, she does know how to manage laminitis, and King doesn’t. When Mrs. Graham decides to give Bitsy’s way a chance, King leaves abruptly, slamming the door behind him.

Margaret daydreams about the furniture she will finally get to buy if she saves enough from her paycheck. She stops by the bookstore to order copies of Herland for the Bettys, and Edwin asks Margaret to invite Walt to chat with him about the Hemingway book when he is done.

Margaret then stops by the bank to open an account, and she is shocked and furious to learn that Walt’s signature is required, even if the account is for her own paychecks. She goes around the corner to a bakery, where she orders and eats three jelly donuts while she forges Walt’s signature on the bank’s form. After depositing the card and her paycheck in the bank, a seething Margaret heads home full of plans about how to address this injustice. She discovers Denise waiting for her in the driveway.

Denise has learned from Charlotte that Margaret is a professional writer, and she asks for feedback on an essay she has written. Margaret is stunned by Denise’s extraordinary writing and tells her so. Denise tells Margaret that she is desperate to go to Oxford; she is not worried about getting in, but she is worried about other things that could stop her from going.

Denise begs Margaret to promise that she will look after Charlotte after Denise leaves for Oxford. She confides that Charlotte was committed to a psychiatric institution after taking an overdose of sleeping pills. Denise admits that her mother can be erratic, but she believes Charlotte’s claims that the overdose was an accident. However, Howard, who was away on a ski trip when the incident happened, arrived at the hospital and lied about Charlotte’s mental state, causing her to be admitted to the institution.

Denise reveals that she is not Howard’s biological child; Charlotte got pregnant with Denise when she was 21, following an affair with a country club caddy. To save face, Charlotte’s father married her off to Howard, a low-level manager in his firm, with the promise of promotions and more money. Howard and Charlotte loathe each other, and he has had numerous affairs. However, neither will ask for a divorce for fear of repercussions from Charlotte’s father.

Having stayed up all night reading The Feminine Mystique herself, Denise has realized that she has more in common with her mother than she originally believed—they share the same stubbornness and intelligence, which they have always been told are “neuroses that make (them) sick and unfeminine, even unlovable” (168). Denise wants to get away, but she also loves her mother and wants Margaret to look out for her in Denise’s absence. This is a seemingly simple request, but not for someone with Margaret’s history. Nevertheless, Margaret promises to try.

Their conversation is interrupted by a phone call from Bitsy. She asks to borrow a sewing machine and for Margaret to feed her pets that night; King is not answering his phone, and Bitsy will not be going home.

Margaret, Viv, and Charlotte arrive at the barn with supplies that Bitsy asked for. Bitsy explains that she wants to sew socks for Delilah, which she can fill up with ice. Viv sews the socks, and the Bettys help Bitsy fill them with ice and put them on the horse. Delilah visibly relaxes once Bitsy gets the socks over her front hooves. Bitsy intends to stay with Delilah for the next 72 hours, icing the horse’s hooves as needed and changing her diet.

At the Bettys’ urging, Bitsy tells them about her fight with King. They promise to help Bitsy however she needs, and Viv urges her to have more confidence in her abilities. After drinking and keeping each other company until late at night, Charlotte, Margaret, and Viv eventually return home. Viv tells Tony, who has been waiting up, that she has something to tell him in the morning. However, Tony enters the bathroom while Viv is changing and finally notices her pregnant belly.