Malcom wakes up hungover and discovers that Sienna is missing from their bed. He remembers their fight from the night before, when Sienna announced her intention to write solo. Panicked by her absence, he decides to apologize. He notices that the typewriter is gone from their desk and hears crying coming from downstairs.

As he comes down the stairs, Priscilla, who’s comforting a crying Millie, tries to stop him. He looks past her to the landing and sees Sienna’s body lying next to the overturned typewriter, her skull visibly caved in. The sight causes Malcolm to vomit into a nearby plant.

Fourteen years earlier, Malcolm’s writing career is failing after his agent dropped him, telling him his work wasn’t original enough and unfavorably comparing him to Arthur Fletch. While at a writers’ conference, Malcolm meets a young, aspiring writer named Sienna at the hotel bar. He encourages her to confidently call herself a writer.

Later, after they sleep together, she reads his manuscript and instantly identifies the plot twist. She suggests a significant improvement, which Malcolm recognizes as a brilliant idea. He immediately sees a partnership with Sienna as the path to reviving his career and achieving the success he craves.