Ilya dreams of his deceased mother, Irina, wanting to introduce her to Shane, but Shane never appears. He wakes alone at Shane’s Montreal house on the first day of their charity hockey camp. Shane is already in the kitchen, stressing over administrative details. Shane’s mother, Yuna, who is staying with them for the week, has already left for the rink, and a French news crew will arrive that afternoon.

Shane worries both about the camp and their secret being discovered. He recalls retired player Ryan Price walking in on them kissing at last year’s camp and the fact that his teammate, Hayden Pike, will be a coach at the camp. He is one of the only ones that knows about their relationship. To ease his worry, he establishes a strict no-kissing rule for the week.

At the rink, Ilya welcomes the children and introduces the coaching staff. When Ilya later spots Shane talking to an attractive male reporter who touches his arm, he fires a puck at the glass behind Shane’s head out of jealousy. Shane ignores him for the rest of the day. In a private argument afterward, Ilya admits his jealousy and Shane reaffirms his love and commitment. Ryan walks in on them again before they can kiss.

That evening over dinner at Shane’s house, they discuss which coaches they could trust with their secret. Later, Ilya slips onto the back deck and speaks in Russian to his deceased mother, hoping she would be proud of the camp. Shane joins him, and they embrace in the dark.

Shane pulls Ryan aside at the equipment room to confirm he has kept their secret, then invites him and his boyfriend Fabian to a double date that night. He also nervously reveals that his parents and Hayden know about the relationship. Ryan is relieved he isn’t the sole keeper of their secret.

That evening, Shane and Ilya meet Ryan and Fabian Salah, a musician, at a restaurant that turns out to be a gay bar. Ilya hesitates when introducing Shane, struggling to define their relationship. Ilya surprises Shane by revealing he already bought them tickets to Fabian’s show on Friday. The conversation turns to being a queer couple in the public eye. Fabian asks why their relationship is a secret, and they explain the complexity of their public rivalry, adding that they have been together in some form for over 10 years. Fabian wonders aloud whether hiding is also a “distraction,” a question that gives them both pause.

On the drive home, Ilya suggests they may be so practiced at “pretending not to be in love” that they have become “bad at showing it” (44)—a thought that sobers Shane.

During lunch at the rink, coaches discuss their complicated feelings about hockey. The conversation shifts to Ilya’s new coach in Ottawa, Brandon Wiebe. Hayden arrives late, explaining his son Arthur’s stuffed alligator had gone missing. Ilya inwardly admits to admiring Hayden’s life as a father.

During an afternoon scrimmage, two rival campers get into a fight. Ilya takes them to the locker room and defuses the tension by having them engage in a silly one-legged hopping contest, which makes them laugh and reconcile. On the last day of camp, a teammate remarks that Shane and Ilya are “kind of adorable” (52), which worries Shane. He then feels jealous watching two colleagues be openly affectionate, and an urge to kiss Ilya publicly.

Walking down a hallway, Ilya pulls Shane into an empty locker room that reminds them of where they first met while filming a commercial over a decade ago. Ilya kisses Shane passionately as they reminisce about the shoot, when Shane was visibly aroused and Ilya propositioned him, acknowledging it as the start of their story.

Shane and Ilya attend Fabian’s show with Ryan. Fabian’s performance is sensual and mesmerizing. Ilya, starved for physical affection, lightly touches Shane’s arm, but Shane flinches away, torn between desire and the pull of secrecy. Seeing Ilya look hurt, Shane decides to act. He moves closer and rests a hand on the small of Ilya’s back for the rest of the show. Ilya mouths a promise of soon.

In the car home, both distracted by desire, they immediately begin kissing once they arrive and have urgent, intense sex. Afterward, Ilya seems distracted. Later that night, Shane wakes when Ilya returns to bed and smells cigarette smoke on him, which Ilya denies.

Over breakfast at Ilya’s house in Ottawa, Shane asks how many men Ilya has been with. Ilya deflects with jokes, and Shane prepares to drive back to Montreal. Ilya stops him at the door and comes clean: Shane was only the second man he had ever been with. He admits to a few other partners after Shane during the years they were secretly hooking up but says none of them mattered. They embrace, and Shane expresses how much he hates hiding their relationship. They share a passionate kiss before Shane has to leave, noting that they won’t see each other again for three weeks.

In Montreal, Shane watches his third Stanley Cup Champions banner raised to the rafters and plans to re-sign with the team. In Ottawa, Ilya’s home opener feels sad given the team’s losing history. Ilya feels disconnected from his team and thinks his linemate Zane should be captain instead of him. After the game, the team’s social media manager, Harris, invites him out. Ilya doesn’t commit. He has a brief, encouraging conversation with rookie Luca Haas, who clearly idolizes him.

That night, Ilya is unable to sleep, plagued by feelings of worthlessness and his father’s critical voice in his head. Desperate for connection, he texts Shane after one o’clock in the morning. The next morning, Shane sees the text and mistakenly assumes Ilya was just looking for sex.

Ilya spends an evening at Shane’s parents’ house in Ottawa, playing Yahtzee with Yuna and David Hollander. Shane calls during the visit, and they flirt and exchange “I love yous” in Russian (85). Ilya reflects that he doesn’t regret leaving Boston, because being in Ottawa lets him be closer to Shane.

Watching Shane’s game on television with Shane’s parents, Ilya sees Shane score a goal using his signature breakaway move, then wink directly at the camera—a private message for Ilya. Later, on a video call from their respective beds, Ilya has Shane put on his glasses and they have phone sex, climaxing together. Afterward, they exchange raw declarations of love and lament that they still have 10 days before they can see each other. Shane ends the call feeling intensely alone, wishing there could be a solution to their problem.