Walter visits the clinic again and takes his medication. With Devlin in Dublin, he feels a bit lost. He sees a flyer for a free salsa dancing class, and he decides to go. He arrives at the same time as an older woman in a red dress, and they dance together. When the class ends, Walter feels too afraid to ask her out.

At the Irish National Museum, a guide helps Gabrielle and Devlin find Perry’s violins. The guide takes one violin out for Gabrielle to examine and gives Devlin and Gabrielle a brief history of Dublin’s 1800s music scene. Gabrielle asks the guide about the apprentices who worked under Perry. The guide informs her that there’s a lack of information about Perry, but the museum has an archive that may have something useful.

Gabrielle and Devlin grab coffee and bagels in the museum café, and Gabrielle asks Devlin how it feels to be back in Dublin. Devlin says he’s trying not to think about it. She finds herself wanting to open up about her past and her dealings with Verity, but she can’t bring herself to do so. She wonders if her professional reputation or her personal integrity matters more to her.

Mikhail is a violinist who struggles to make ends meet and lives with a substance use disorder. His wife Sofia married him when they were young, and he dreamt of playing in the Berlin Philharmonic. Now, Mikhail goes out most nights and becomes inebriated before coming home and sexually assaulting Sofia. Mikhail returns home and gropes Sofia, but the baby wakes and cries. The next day, Mikhail again promises not to drink anymore and tells Sofia he has an audition for a string quartet. Sofia hopes their tides are turning.

Mikhail lied; there’s no audition. He attends a concert by Eva Mudocci, an English violinist nicknamed “the Nightingale” because of the melodic quality of her violin. Mikhail arrives early to the concert in hopes of speaking with Eva and finds himself alone in her dressing room with the violin. He steals it and hurries home.

The next week, he takes the violin to an audition, but thieves attack him, stabbing his hand and severing his nerves. The police arrive before the thieves take the violin, but Mikhail knows he’ll never play again. He tells Sofia to get rid of the violin, but when she reads the news, she recognizes the violin as the instrument stolen from Eva.

Sofia meets Eva at her hotel and returns the violin. Eva gratefully offers Sofia a job as her assistant, inviting Sofia’s family to join her. Sofia returns home and tells Mikhail, and he beats her viciously for returning the violin. The next morning, Sofia takes her two children and leaves Mikhail to join Eva on her tour of the UK and Canada.

Devlin and Gabrielle search the National Museum archives for any mentions of Irish luthiers. Devlin finds an old scrap of paper with a list of Irish luthiers, and one name stands out to Gabrielle: William Rathbone. Below William’s name, a paragraph states that he lived in Waterford and worked as a carpenter before becoming a luthier whose work mimicked the Cremonese style. His violins often lacked labels, as he frequently sold violins to other dealers who relabeled them with names of other Cremonese masters.

Gabrielle realizes that their violin is a Rathbone, as is the one from the museum in Cremona. She sees an 1834 letter to Bartholomew Murphy, an instrument maker in Cork, from his granddaughter Imogen. The letter describes a story of William telling another man about his friendship with Paganini, saying that Paganini wrote “Bellezza Nascosta” for William, and he left it at “the foot of an angel in Starling Manor” (320).

Gabrielle sees the connection between the violin and the lost piece of Paganini music. She tells Devlin that the violin is more special than a Stradivarius, because Rathbones are ever rarer. The museum guide returns and tells Gabrielle and Devlin about a concert of violin solos at Starling Manor the next night, and they decide to attend.

Gabrielle and Devlin search for formal clothing for the concert in a charity shop, and Gabrielle reveals she’s never purchased secondhand clothes. She searches the shop until she finds a slinky green gown she loves. Devlin dons a white tuxedo, and Gabrielle finds him handsome. They check into a boutique hotel before taking a taxi to Starling Manor.

Gabrielle and Devlin take their seats inside the grand manor, and Gabrielle sees Max there, coaching another teenage girl, touching her inappropriately on the waist like he once did to Gabrielle. Max sees Gabrielle, and she runs out of the ballroom. Max follows her out and taunts her for her “phantom injury.” Gabrielle confronts him for grooming her, and Max refuses to take responsibility, instead calling Gabrielle untalented and mocking her dreams of being a soloist. She slaps him, and he slaps her back harder. He tells her that she’s not special and should leave.

Gabrielle goes outside and finds a bench near a pond. She sits alone until Devlin finds her and holds her while they watch the starlings above form a murmuration. Devlin realizes he, Gabrielle, and Walter have formed a murmuration of their own. Gabrielle doesn’t tell Devlin what’s upset her but allows him to comfort her anyway.

They walk together until Gabrielle sees an angel statue and remembers the reference to “Bellezza Nascosta” in the letter. The statue marks the grave of a woman named Clara Dillon, and Gabrielle and Devlin search for a hidden compartment that could store the sheet music. They find the original sheet music for “Bellezza Nascosta.” She and Devlin kiss, and Devlin asks Gabrielle if she wants to play the lost music. She grabs the violin and the sheet music and leads Devlin back into the ballroom.

Verity visits Gregory in prison. She hardly recognizes the man she fell in love with 40 years ago, though she remembers the way it felt to be in his arms and learn the violin from him when she was only 17. Gregory recognized the violin as Verity’s from the photos. He questions how she lost it and knows that she orchestrated its theft from Christie’s. Verity reveals that she will kill Gabrielle if she doesn’t get the violin. She demands that Gregory lure Gabrielle to the prison with the violin.

Gabrielle runs ahead of Devlin, and he makes it through the doors to see her standing onstage. She plays “Bellezza Nascosta” and realizes that Paganini wove the story of William and Clara’s love into the music. Gabrielle realizes that she still loves playing music, and Max’s cruelty and abuse were jealous attempts to suppress her gift. When she finishes, the audience applauds uproariously except for Max, and she laughs. She sees Devlin and recognizes his love for her on his face.

Clara’s consciousness realizes the magic binding the violin is beginning to fracture, and “Bellezza Nascosta” is the key to both the past and the future.