Lena arrives home to find Rachel Holohan waiting on her doorstep with a cat, claiming it has some scratches that need examination. Once Lena has determined that the scratches are a minor skin condition, Rachel asks about Lena’s late husband, Sean Dunne. She repeats a rumor that he was controlling and isolated Lena from others. Lena firmly refutes this, explaining her isolation has always been her own deliberate choice. Rachel breaks down crying, and vaguely describes an argument with Eugene Moynihan, who she believes is “a load smarter than [her]” (34). However, Rachel worries about people “hating” her. Lena doesn’t clearly understand what Rachel is upset about, but she offers generic advice and Rachel leaves. Lena reflects on her intentional distance from the townland’s social entanglements and worries Rachel lacks the strength to withstand community pressure.

Meanwhile, Mart drives Cal home from the pub. Mart worries about having no children to inherit his farm and fears it will be sold for development after his death. At Cal’s house, Lena and Trey prepare dinner. Trey tells Cal that she wants to leave school to begin a woodworking apprenticeship with Sam Murray. Cal insists that she finish school first, noting her uncharacteristically subdued response. After Trey leaves to meet her friends, Lena tells Cal her suspicions that Trey has a crush on her teammate Kate. Cal is shocked, feeling that Trey is too young and inexperienced for relationships. Later that night, Cal waits up for Trey to come home. She returns sober, and they discuss her friends’ dating arrangements. Trey then confronts Cal about his reluctance regarding her apprenticeship and offers a compromise to finish the current school year, leaving Cal unsettled by these sudden changes.

In the early hours before dawn, Mart calls Cal to report that Rachel Holohan has not come home. Cal and Trey join the search party, meeting Mart and P.J., who assign them the road leading to the river. Cal feels suddenly strange to be included; Ardnakelty generally likes to deal with its business “without any contribution from outsiders” (62). As they search the roadside and fields with flashlights, Trey grows tense, reminded of her older brother’s disappearance years earlier. They reach the dense riverside woods and hear shouting upstream. They find Francie Gannon on the steep bank; he has spotted a body in the fast-flowing river, snagged on a branch. Cal and Francie pull Rachel’s body from the water. Cal checks for a pulse, finds none, and begins futile CPR while shielding the body from Trey’s view.

During the walk home at dawn, Trey asks if Eugene killed Rachel. Cal dismisses the idea, explaining Eugene lacks the capacity for that kind of violence, and tells her that most young deaths result from accidents or suicide. He warns her to keep any suspicions to herself.

In the days following Rachel’s death, the townland falls into an uneasy silence. People avoid discussing the death with Cal, though he realizes they are talking among themselves. Guard Breege takes statements from Cal and Trey; Trey answers questions readily, but then avoids the subject. When Cal visits Seán Óg’s pub, he finds it apparently normal, with men bantering about smartphone apps and dating advice.

Tommy and Eugene Moynihan enter the pub. Tommy tries to join a card game and act normally, but the pub falls silent. Francie begins singing “The Butcher Boy,” a ballad about a girl who dies by suicide after her lover’s betrayal. The rest of the pub, including Cal, hum along until Eugene storms out in rage. Tommy makes a more dignified exit after expressing his disappointment with this unwelcoming behavior.

Guard Breege also interviews Lena, who tells her about Rachel’s visit but omits details of their conversation. Lena reflects that the townland will conduct its own investigation and dispense its own justice regardless of official findings. Noreen calls Lena daily, frantic about the community’s unsettled state, but Lena refuses to get involved, and the sisters argue.

Mart visits Cal and describes the full extent of Tommy’s local power and willingness to use official channels to punish those who oppose him. He describes the Moynihans as being at “a crossroads” with Ardnakelty; although many in town dislike Tommy, others are willing to “lick [his] boots clean” in gratitude for bringing jobs to the area (90). However, Mart warns that Tommy is taking advantage of these “peasants,” using their labor to enrich his own businesses. However, speaking out publicly against Tommy is a sure way to get an unwanted visitor from an inspector or other official. These “power structures” constitute a new “feature of the landscape” (93) for Cal. He thinks Mart tells him all this because he wants something, but Mart insists that he just wants Cal to be informed.

Two days later, Tommy and Eugene Moynihan visit Cal at his house. Tommy calls on Cal’s professional expertise to investigate why Rachel killed herself, but Cal refuses, prompting a veiled threat from Tommy about Cal’s undeclared woodworking income. That evening, Trey arrives for dinner and shares news from a friend whose cousin is a Guard: Rachel’s death has been officially ruled suicide by antifreeze poisoning. Cal realizes Tommy must have known this when he visited, explaining his certainty about suicide rather than an accident.

Lena warns Cal not to share information with Mart, fearing he will be pulled into old local feuds that have nothing to do with him. They argue about whether he should take sides in conflicts that predate his arrival in Ardnakelty. Uncomfortable with the disagreement, Trey abruptly leaves to walk the dogs.

Outside, Lena finds Trey, and they discuss the antifreeze ruling. Trey firmly believes that Rachel did not kill herself, arguing that the method is too slow and uncertain. She theorizes someone poisoned Rachel to silence her, then threw her in the river. Lena asks if Trey plans to investigate, but Trey says there would be no point since nothing could be done even if she found answers. Lena is troubled by Trey’s cynicism, recognizing it as a lesson she herself taught the girl about how the townland buries inconvenient truths.

The next morning, Lena visits the old footbridge where Rachel likely entered the river. She reflects that Rachel is being transformed into a local ghost story rather than remembered as a real person. Feeling responsible for Trey’s cynicism, Lena concludes she owes it to the girl to uncover the truth—if Trey is going to build a life in Ardnakelty, Lena feels she must prove that the townland’s convenient narratives do not always have to win.