Monday morning brings crushing news: Penn Central has won its court case, and Grand Central’s landmark designation has been overturned. The clerks immediately worry about their jobs. Ruby arrives that same morning with equally devastating news: there is no one named Samson Coutan working at MoMA. The Lorettes have been lying to Virginia. Ruby urges Virginia to consult her ex-husband, Chester, for legal advice, but Virginia flatly refuses.

Collecting her mail that day, Virginia finds a lawsuit from her upstairs neighbor, demanding thousands of dollars in smoke damage from her apartment fire. Facing no other options, she arranges to meet Chester for lunch at the Oyster Bar inside the terminal. The reunion is cold. Chester dismisses the terminal as an expendable relic and doubts the city’s chances of an appeal, arguing that the financial risk of losing the case again would deter the mayor from pursuing it. He also tells Virginia that she has no legal standing in the Lorette matter without proof of ownership. When Virginia becomes emotional, Chester curtly reminds her he can no longer take care of her. The lunch ends in acute humiliation when he notices that Virginia’s prosthetic bra has shifted; Virginia retreats to the women’s restroom and experiences a mental health crisis.

When she reemerges, Virginia is surprised to find the Oyster Bar filling with press attending an impromptu public event. Mayor Abraham Beame announces the Committee to Save Grand Central and introduces its members: architect Philip Johnson, author Louis Auchincloss, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who delivers a brief, impassioned statement that the terminal can still be saved. Congressman Edward Koch also speaks in support.

Virginia then spots Dennis nearby with a colleague, watching their opposition from afar. Positioning herself in the Whispering Gallery, she overhears their conversation: Dennis’ colleague, Jack, has prepared revised financial figures inflating Penn Central’s operating costs to make the terminal appear economically disastrous. He passes Dennis a yellow folder containing the original balance sheet, noting a revised version will be ready in a few days. Dennis takes the folder and the two part ways. Standing in the concourse, Virginia resolves to act.

Clara’s narrative jumps forward to October 1930 in Greenwich Village. Clara is working as a waitress at a small restaurant run by Romany Marie, a warmhearted former anarchist who provides free meals for struggling artists and occasionally buys their work outright. Clara has stopped painting, convinced the Great Depression has eliminated any market for art. She is also disillusioned with the potential of illustration work.

One day, Levon unexpectedly enters the restaurant. Despite his well-cut clothing, he is gaunt and flat broke, ordering only hot water to stretch a meal put together with table condiments. Clara quietly arranges for him to receive proper food. She learns that lead poisoning from paint pigment has affected the use of his dominant hand, severely impacting his ability to work. Levon apologizes for his role in driving Oliver away, then, discovering that Clara is living in a cold, heatless hotel, invites her to move into his studio.

That evening at the studio, they address what happened in Maine; Levon confesses he regrets not having pursued her more openly at the time. Clara paints his portrait, and afterward they become lovers. Their arrangement is one of mutual necessity: Clara contributes food and money from her wages while Levon provides shelter and art supplies, supplementing their income through private lessons with wealthy uptown women. Since he cannot paint for the time being, Levon focuses on encouraging Clara to rediscover her own craft. Consequently, Clara works at an accelerating pace and develops a more abstract, emotionally raw style unlike anything she had produced before.

At their Christmas Eve party, Clara grows quietly resentful watching her male peers claim the best professional opportunities simply by virtue of their gender. She remembers the Clyde pseudonym attached to The Siren, and proposes to Hornsby and Levon that her new paintings be exhibited under the name Clyde, withholding her true identity. This will allow viewers to assume the work is by a man and judge it solely on its merits. Hornsby is reluctant to follow through with this plan, but Levon pledges to cover the framing for Clara’s work, raising the funds through additional private lessons and by selling his prized art books.

Over the following months, Clara paints relentlessly. By opening night of the spring exhibition, a third of the works have already been privately sold. The mystery surrounding Clyde’s identity generates national press attention. Clara moves through the crowded gallery unrecognized. She is shaken when she hears Mr. Bianchi mention that he recently purchased Levon’s portrait of a boy and his mother. She remembers it as Levon’s most treasured piece, which he sold to fund her show.

Hornsby then publicly announces that Clyde’s identity will be revealed in Chicago, where the exhibition is traveling, a maneuver designed to amplify interest and drive up prices. Weeks later, Clara and Levon head to Grand Central to board the 20th Century Limited train. In the cab, Levon demonstrates that his hand has finally recovered. Clara promises him they will eventually recover his sold painting from Mr. Bianchi.

At the terminal newsstand, Oliver appears. He confesses that he never destroyed The Siren; he hid it and offers to return it. Clara weighs her choices: stay and possibly recover the painting, or board the train and secure her public triumph. Recalling Levon’s sacrifice, she tells Oliver he can keep the work and heads for the platform. Only then does she notice that her watch is running slow and that she will almost miss her train. She sprints for track 34, trips on the platform carpet, and recovers just in time to watch the train slide into the tunnel without her.

Determined to obtain Penn Central’s original balance sheet, Virginia dresses provocatively and visits Dennis at his law office. She steers him toward his private office and, while scanning the papers on his desk, finds no sign of the yellow folder. After they have sex on the office couch and Dennis falls asleep, she searches methodically and locates the folder in the same drawer where he stores liquor.

Days later, Virginia volunteers with the Municipal Art Society and meets with Adelaide Parsons. At the end of the meeting, she doubles back alone and leaves the documents in an unmarked envelope on Adelaide’s chair.

In March, Virginia and Ruby return to their repaired apartment. Chester, despite having refused Virginia a loan to help her cover her expenses, sends the upstairs neighbors a firm letter that significantly reduces their financial demands. Virginia says farewell to Finn and Xavier at Bemelmans, then walks down Madison Avenue with Ryan, the Bemelmans bartender. They end up at the MoMA for a Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition. Near the exit, Ryan reveals that his real purpose in accompanying her is to express his intention to date Ruby. Virginia, who had briefly misread his interest as directed at herself, accepts his intentions with equanimity.

At the exhibit, Virginia examines O’Keeffe’s high school yearbook and learns that her full name was Georgia Totto O’Keeffe. This discovery prompts her to connect two details: Her coworker Totto was the one who first mentioned the art school was haunted, and a photograph of Clara Darden she had seen at the Art Students League showed a woman who strongly resembled Totto’s. Virginia begins to suspect that Totto may be a relative of Clara Darden, as well as the unexplained presence behind the mysteries of the art school.