Auntie Zee doesn’t send Calisa home. Over several days, Calisa cleans the inn while Zee supervises and feeds breadcrumbs to the carved birds on the kitchen clock, which move and peck. Zee criticizes Calisa’s last cake as dry and tells her to try again. When Calisa suggests expanding the tea menu to attract guests, Zee dismisses the idea and warns against grand plans, predicting that Calisa will leave at summer’s end like her mother. Calisa realizes that the rift between Zee and her mother may stem from her mother’s departure.

Calisa and Jack spend two days weeding the front yard. Calisa suggests that they need mulch, but Jack says they can’t afford it. Melidor suddenly appears and offers to ask beavers to make mulch by gnawing logs. While they wait, Jack asks Calisa to bake a chocolate cake, which Mulligan has also requested. They discuss their favorite cakes. Melidor returns with six enormous beavers who begin producing wood chips from fallen branches.

Calisa carefully brings up the topic of seedlings, claiming to have overheard them mentioned near Melidor’s room. Melidor shrieks and then explains that she’s a dryad who must plant seedlings as a coming-of-age ritual followed by a family festival, but she’s not ready. Calisa advises her to take the time she needs and ignore family pressure, relating it to her own need for space after a breakup. Melidor hugs Calisa in gratitude and then joins a beaver in chewing on a log. Jack tells Calisa that she’s good at giving advice, and they head inside for lunch with Steve.

In the kitchen, Calisa studies cake recipes while Jack prepares sandwiches. She proposes holding a grand reopening once the inn is restored. Auntie Zee enters and dismisses this as foolishness. She declares that the inn’s time has passed and that she’s ready to let it go. Jack and Calisa protest, arguing that it’s their home and that people need it. Zee responds that she no longer has the energy to maintain it. She tells Jack that he must move on and stop waiting for his father, who, she says, cannot return. She promises to try keeping the inn open through the season but warns them not to plan anything grander than baking cakes. She then announces a supply run and says she will return by dinnertime.

Jack is devastated, believing that Zee has given up on both his father and the inn. Calisa hugs him and urges him not to give up, reminding him that the inn is not yet closed and that portals remain open. She feels a romantic attraction to Jack but steps back, recognizing that he needs support rather than complications. To distract him, she turns his attention to a chocolate-cake recipe.

Calisa bakes the chocolate cake and brings it to the sitting room, where Mulligan and Kendra join them for tea. She asks what the inn used to be like. Mulligan describes the glory days, when every room was booked and the inn hosted famous magical beings. Kendra suggests that Auntie Zee may deserve rest after decades of service. Calisa asks what they would restore first. Kendra prioritizes clearing the path to the stream, while Mulligan wants the library restored. They list numerous lost amenities, including regular breakfasts, garden picnics, and visiting musicians. Calisa makes a list of tasks that she and Jack can accomplish and resolves to save the inn even if Zee has given up.

Auntie Zee doesn’t return by dinnertime. Mulligan requests his cocoa supplies, Kendra demands her dinner as guaranteed by her guest agreement, and Melidor needs fresh sheets and vegetable soup. Calisa and Jack scramble to fulfill everyone’s requests, including plumbing repairs. By late evening, the guests are satisfied, but Zee remains absent.

The next morning, it’s raining, and Zee is still gone. After Jack makes a supply run, Calisa prepares pancakes. Jack reveals that Zee has disappeared before without explanation. Calisa reassures him that Zee can’t be trapped behind a portal like his father was because she controls them. They agree to keep the inn running and tell guests that Zee was delayed on her supply trip.

Calisa decides to clean the library. She lets Steve inside to escape the rain. While dusting, she discovers that the library ladder is magical and moves when she speaks to it. She decides to find Zee’s logbook to determine where her great-aunt might have gone.

In the lobby, Calisa asks the smoky mirror if it’s magical, and it sarcastically displays the word “no.” When she asks where the logbook is, the mirror confirms that it knows but refuses to tell her. Realizing that the book must be visible from the mirror’s position, Calisa discovers that the keyboard is hinged. Behind it is a small purple portal. She reaches in and retrieves a large, leather-bound logbook.

In her room, Calisa reads the logbook, which spans 150 years of guest registrations and innkeeper notes. The records reveal that many supplies and guests come from a place called the Night Market. She observes a gradual decline in guests but no single catastrophic event. Calisa concludes that she must find a way to reach the Night Market.

Calisa asks the smoky mirror if Auntie Zee went to the Night Market, but the mirror is sarcastic and unhelpful. She finds Jack and proposes that they travel to the Night Market to search for Zee. Jack objects, arguing that it’s too dangerous and reminiscent of his father’s disappearance. Calisa insists that waiting passively is the greater risk and that the inn can’t function without Zee. Jack relents, seeing that she will go regardless.

They enter the guest room containing a portal to the market. Calisa reassures Jack that this portal is stable, having been used by Zee hundreds of times, and promises that they’ll flee at any sign of trouble. Holding hands, they step through and arrive at the Night Market under a star-filled sky. Calisa is thrilled to be in another realm.

Using information from the logbook, Calisa directs them to the stall of a baker named Rin, a centaur. Jack explains that portal magic automatically translates languages in their minds. They navigate the crowded market, observing many non-human vendors and shoppers. They meet Rin at his stall. He attempts to sell them bread at an inflated price until Calisa mentions that Zee is her great-aunt, at which point he offers his usual reasonable rates.

Calisa asks if Rin has seen Zee. He reports that he hasn’t seen her in weeks but is unconcerned, explaining that inter-realm travel involves many potential delays. He promises to ask other travelers for information and suggests that they return in a few days. He also proposes that they check with Zee’s other suppliers in different realms. Calisa embraces the idea of exploring more portals.

Over the following days, Calisa and Jack use the logbook to visit multiple realms, questioning Auntie Zee’s suppliers. They travel to a seaside village where mermaids deliver fish to docks, a labyrinth constructed of bones with a skeletal guard, and a vast forest where mushroom-like creatures live at the base of a giant spiraling tree. Between portal expeditions, they continue restoring the inn, and Calisa finds time to bake a carrot cake. She feels happier than she has ever been.

One morning, Calisa and Jack begin clearing the overgrown stream behind the inn. Jack gives Calisa a long-sleeved shirt to protect her arms from thorns, a gesture she finds thoughtful. While working close together, Calisa thinks about kissing him. After they clear the stream, Steve settles into the water to cool off. Later, in the kitchen, Jack tells Calisa that when he’s with her, he believes they’ll find Zee.

After another portal trip to a dark fungal realm, Calisa serves the leftover carrot cake for tea. She then goes outside to invite Melidor and finds her making movements like snow angels in the mulch. Small green sprouts fall from Melidor’s clothing. She identifies them as her seedlings and asks permission to plant them at the inn. Melidor explains that the seedlings aren’t plants but baby dryads and that she’s decided that she’s ready to become a mother. The seedlings will become mobile after a few days and follow her home. She asks Calisa to help plant them, saying that Calisa will be like an aunt to the babies.

Calisa agrees and digs 16 small holes by the stream. Melidor explains that the quiet and peace of the inn helped her listen to her heart and make her decision. They plant all 16 seedlings together. Melidor hugs Calisa in gratitude and then joyfully skips through the stream. Steve, watching from a rock, flicks his tongue, and a small flame emerges. Calisa realizes that Steve can breathe fire.