Dean regains consciousness to find the house full of police officers treating him as the aggressor. Tucker is barely suppressing laughter. Allie explains that she had been walking through a dark house with a bowl of soup after watching a horror film, mistook Dean for an intruder, hurled the soup at him, and clocked him with a Wayne Gretzky paperweight before realizing who he was. She called the police because she feared she might have killed him. The officers’ hostility dissipates once they identify Dean as a Briar hockey player, and the EMT confirms he doesn’t have a concussion.

“Allie”

After he showers, Dean finds Allie looking apologetic on his bed and abandons his planned lecture because his head hurts too much. Complaining about how hard she hit him, he says she’s lucky he loves her—and immediately realizes what he’s just said. Flustered, he admits he has never been the first to say it. Allie launches herself at him, tells him she loves him too, and announces that emotional moments turn her on. They sleep together, exchanging declarations throughout.

The narrative jumps to December. Allie spends the first two days of the holiday break with Dean’s family in Greenwich before he leaves for St. Bart’s. His mother, Lori, and his father, Peter, are relaxed and unpretentious, and his older brother Nick is warm and likable. Allie had turned down their invitation to join them in St. Bart’s so she could spend time with her father instead. Back in Brooklyn, Joe tells her bluntly that men like Dean—who live charmed, protected lives—fall apart when real hardship arrives and cannot be counted on. Allie sets the warning aside and spends her birthday, Christmas Eve, at home with her dad. When Dean returns from his trip, he takes her to a dance studio in Newark for a surprise salsa lesson. When she asks him why he’s doing something he claimed not to want to do, Dean says simply that making her happy is what he wants.

“Dean”

Back on campus, amid classes, hockey, and coaching the Hurricanes, Dean arrives home to find Garrett, Logan, and Tucker in the kitchen with visibly stricken expressions. Garrett explains that the Briar football coach had contacted Coach Jensen because he knew the hockey team was close with Beau. Before Dean can make sense of it, Garrett delivers the news: Beau is dead.

Dean cannot process what Garrett has said. He asks him to repeat the story. Beau had flown to Wisconsin for his grandmother’s 90th birthday. On the icy drive home, his father swerved to avoid hitting a deer, skidded on a patch of black ice, and the car flipped, striking a tree. Beau’s neck broke on impact, but his father was unharmed. Dean grabs a whiskey bottle, retreats to his room, and drinks until he is barely conscious. Logan calls Allie, and she cradles Dean’s head in her lap.

“Allie”

On the day of Beau’s memorial, Dean dresses in his suit, but cannot bring himself to go. Afterward, he tells Allie he couldn’t face seeing Beau’s family. Allie tells him that Beau’s sister, Joanna, played piano and sang “Let It Be” at the service. Dean begins to cry, and Allie holds him. After they have sex, Dean falls asleep in her arms, and Allie allows herself a cautious hope that the emotional release will help him heal. She reflects that hope tends to lead to disappointment.

Over the following two weeks, Dean performs adequately in class and at hockey on autopilot, then spends every evening drinking or getting high. His real personality disappears. Allie refuses his intoxicated advances each time, and he stops showing up to coach the Hurricanes.

Allie visits the arena to apologize to Coach Ellis and assure him Dean will come back. She finds Dakota crying on the bleachers because she believes Dean abandoned her as punishment for asking him to find her a pair of girls’ skates. Allie comforts her. On the drive home, her father’s warning echoes in her mind. She realizes she’s exhausted, neglecting her own rehearsals and coursework to manage Dean’s crisis.

Dean promises to attend the opening night of Allie’s senior play on Friday. The production receives a standing ovation, but Dean is not there. Allie comes home in her stage costume to find a house full of football players and Dean in an armchair. He panics when he sees her, realizing he missed the show. Allie goes upstairs to pack her things, and Dean follows, apologizing. She notices his eyes are too bright for alcohol, and he admits he took MDMA. Allie tells him her father was right. She tells him about Dakota’s tears at the Hurricanes’ practice and says she’s done cleaning up his messes. She storms out.

Dean wakes with a swollen black eye and the residual effects of MDMA. The previous night reassembles itself in his memories: football players snorting cocaine in the kitchen, Garrett confronting and punching him, Allie ending the relationship. The detail about Dakota crying cuts the deepest.

Garrett apologizes for the black eye, but Dean agrees he had it coming. Logan joins them, and the three share an unguarded moment of mutual support before agreeing to tell Coach Jensen the black eye came from reenacting a scene from Fight Club. At the arena, they discover they’re all being given an unannounced drug test. Dean suspects Coach O’Shea orchestrated the timing. He pulls Coach Jensen into his office and confesses what his results will show. Two days later, he is removed from the team.

Three days after the breakup, Allie meets Dean at the Coffee Hut. He looks sober and present. He accepts full responsibility for being kicked off the team, then apologizes for missing her play and for making her feel she had to cover for him with Coach Ellis and the Hurricanes. Allie forgives him but says she cannot get back together yet. She explains she has moved from one relationship to the next her entire life and needs to learn how to exist on her own. She suggests he still has work to do on his grief. Dean accepts this without argument and asks only how long. She tells him she doesn’t know.

“Dean”

Dean writes out a physical list of people to whom he wants to make amends. He apologizes to his teammates and Coach Ellis and quickly wins back the Hurricanes boys with a promise of pizza. He climbs to the bleachers to face Dakota, who is still cold and hurt. He acknowledges his failure, jokes gently, and she eventually pats his arm and says she likes him again. He calls Joanna, Beau’s sister, to apologize for missing the memorial, and they talk about Beau for nearly an hour. Finally, Dean tracks down Miranda’s number and calls to apologize for his role in what happened between them in high school. Miranda tells him the fault was hers—she seduced him while he was drunk and then tried to guilt him into staying. Both feel closure.

Another week passes with minimal contact between Allie and Dean. Hannah tells Dean that Allie flew to Los Angeles for an in-person Fox audition. Dean books his own flight to New York to complete the final item on his list.

On a Saturday evening, Allie tells Hannah she wants to turn down the role on the Fox pilot because it doesn’t feel right, and she’d have to sign a seven-year contract for a project she doesn’t believe in. She also admits she’s ready to reconcile with Dean. Her father calls and tell her he sprained his wrist when he fell at home. Though Joe insists he is fine, Allie is alarmed and phones Dean, who is already in New York.

“Dean”

Dean goes to Joe’s Brooklyn home and tells him he’s spending the night despite Joe’s protests. The two men watch football and hockey, eat pizza, and drink beer in near silence. Dean tells Joe plainly that he loves Allie. Joe acknowledges it gruffly, and the animosity eases. Later, finding Dean in Allie’s childhood room, Joe explains her distinctive perfume: When Allie was 12, her mother, Eva, had a custom scent made by a French perfumer—a blend of strawberries and roses. Dean mentions Allie has been teaching herself French by watching Solange and confesses he’s watched several seasons with her. Joe laughs and concedes Dean is more capable than he expected.

Allie waits for Dean in his room and tells him she needs no more time alone. Dean produces an envelope containing two plane tickets to Los Angeles—one for her and one her father, so Joe can relocate with her if she accepts a West Coast job. Allie is moved but confirms she is declining the Fox project regardless, wary of a potential seven-season commitment. Dean reveals his own plans: He’s decided against law school and instead accepted a position at a Manhattan private school coaching physical education and girls’ hockey, starting in the fall, with his family’s full support. Allie is proud. They reconcile and sleep together.

Graduation is weeks away. Logan has been signed by the Providence Bruins, Garrett has attracted serious NHL interest, and Dean prepares to start his job at Parklane Academy in Manhattan. Allie’s agent calls to report that director Brett Carson has offered her a leading role in a new HBO series filming in New York without requiring an audition.

Walking on campus, Allie and Dean encounter her ex-boyfriend Sean, who attempts an apology. Allie accepts it and keeps walking, clarifying they will not be friends. They cross paths with Michelle, a woman Dean once nearly had a threesome with who flirts with him. He responds politely and moves on. A teasing exchange about their respective romantic histories follows.

Back at the house, they settle in for movie night. Dean questions whether staying in on a Friday means they have become boring. Tucker arrives, visibly stressed, and explains he had been hoping all the roommates would be home so he could tell everyone at once: he is having a baby with Sabrina James. Allie bursts out laughing and points out to Dean that the excitement is clearly not over.