Ciro, Enza, and the Latinis arrive in Hibbing, Minnesota. There, they meet local businessman Mel Butorac, who has agreed to lease them real estate for their business. Mel informs the couples that they’ll have better options if they split up, one couple working in Hibbing and another in Chisholm. Privately, the couples wonder if they should return to Manhattan. In the morning, they change their minds and agree to the plan: The Latinis will stay in Hibbing, and the Lazzaris will head to Chisholm.

Ciro and Enza set up at their new home and shop on West Lake Street. They gradually orient themselves to the town and meet their neighbors, Ida and Emilio Uncini. Enza acquaints herself with the local shops and is impressed with the town library.

A few weeks later, Enza and Ciro attend a party hosted by a local couple, Ana and Peter Knezovich. They join the Uncinis there. When the couple mentions the 1904 mining accident in Hibbing that killed Carlo, Ciro shuts down and dismisses himself. Enza reveals to their friends that Ciro’s father died in the accident. From afar, she sees Ciro joining the dance floor with a beautiful young woman. Ida urges her to swoop in and steal the dance, but Enza is immobilized. She feels as if she’s watching a scene in a book she read, but can’t place it. The dance continues, and Ciro pays her no attention. Time passes. Enza loses track of Ciro and decides to head home. She lies awake, realizing how fragile her and Ciro’s relationship is.

Ciro returns home in the middle of the night. Enza confronts him for abandoning her and breaking her trust. Ciro insists that he drank too much and didn’t mean anything by the dance; he then got caught up playing cards. Enza insists that he be truer to her and demands that they buy him a wedding band; Enza has been wearing his ring, but he doesn’t have one.

Enza works tirelessly at the shop in the following weeks. In her spare time, she researches Carlo’s life and death in Hibbing. She soon discovers that he has a safety deposit box at the bank; inside are 100 stock shares that the state paid to the victims’ families after the mining accident. Enza withdraws the money and takes it home to Ciro. Ciro insists that he wants nothing to do with this “blood money.” Enza nonetheless keeps it safe.

After Mass on Christmas, Enza sets out to examine the gift she arranged for Ciro. She used some of the stock money to erect a headstone for Carlo in Saint Joseph’s Cemetery. Ciro finds her there, and she reveals the gift; they didn’t find Carlo’s body, but she buried a few family mementos on the plot. Ciro is overcome with emotion and admits how much longing he still feels surrounding his father.

Pappina goes into labor on Valentine’s Day. Enza helps deliver baby John. The birth moves her and Ciro, and they’re hopeful for their own family.

Summer comes to Minnesota. Enza is in “the final weeks of her pregnancy” (375) when Laura arrives unexpectedly. She’s heartbroken over Colin. They’re in love, but he won’t marry her, as his mother doesn’t approve. Enza insists that Laura stay with her and Ciro for as long as she needs.

In July 1919, Enza gives birth to Antonio. Laura packs up to leave shortly thereafter. As she heads out with her bags, she runs into Colin. He has traveled there to propose. They marry that December.

Over the following months, Enza and Ciro adjust to family life while maintaining the shop. In 1921, Laura writes to inform Enza that Caruso died. Enza grieves Caruso and is overcome with sorrow, longing for Manhattan for the first time since her departure.

By the time Antonio is seven, Pappina is having her fourth child. The birth of her daughter, Angela, intensifies Enza’s longing for another child, particularly a girl. She and Ciro have been unable to get pregnant again. Nonetheless, she, Ciro, and Antonio are happy, and the shop is thriving.