Still thinking about her former workplace, Maura finds herself amid the crowded Christmas-shopping bustle of Talbot Street. She stops at the butcher’s shop, where the smell triggers nausea. The butcher, Daniel McCarthy, gives her a large bag of free meat in gratitude for Christy’s care of his pregnant wife. When Maura suggests his three daughters could someday inherit the business, Dan surprises her by saying they are bright and destined for college and great things—a perspective on women’s education she has never encountered before. She thanks him and leaves with the heavy bag, worried that because she has to get the meat home quickly, she cannot visit Switzer’s and Christy will be angry she has not bought the promised china.

In 2023, aboard the train, Saoirse asks Maura how often Christy hit her. Maura answers that it was not frequent and that Christy considered himself a good man, though she acknowledges good men do not strike their wives. She explains why she could not leave: social stigma and legal restrictions on married women meant she was financially dependent on him despite the abuse.

Saoirse reveals that a colleague recently told her that her biological clock is ticking, and that her fiancé, Miles, wants a baby—though no one has asked what she wants. Maura responds that motherhood is not right for everyone and that the choice, hard-won for Irish women, remains difficult. She turns to Bernie’s scrapbook, showing Saoirse a photograph of a young woman with a pram and two small girls, and notes that Bernie became a mother while she did not, yet their lives were equally challenging and rewarding.

Bernie McCarthy, married to butcher Dan, lives with their three daughters in a flat above his shop. Pregnant for the fourth time, she scrubs the flat, battling the persistent smell of meat and severe morning sickness. Her middle daughter, Elizabeth, wets the floor twice. Six-year-old Marie fetches the mop and tends to her younger sisters, but Bernie slaps her when she repeats a curse word overheard at school. While lifting a heavy pot of boiling nappies, Bernie injures her back and stops Marie from fetching Dan, not wanting to worry him further. He recently declared there would be no more babies and offered to sleep on the shop floor to ensure it.

Marie mentions a classmate whose mother died, prompting Bernie to pack an extra apple for the child. Noticing Elizabeth’s coat is too small, Bernie decides to use money saved for Dan’s birthday cake and her late mother’s woolen bedspread to have new coats made, and she and her daughters leave for the market.

On the street, Bernie accidentally rams her pram into Maura, and a broken spoke cuts Maura’s ankle. Bernie’s scrapbook tumbles out. After apologizing, Bernie offers to carry Maura’s heavy meat bag in the pram’s tray, then grows angry, assuming her husband is giving away food while her children need coats. Maura quickly clarifies that she is Dr. Davenport’s wife and the meat was a gift of gratitude. Bernie’s demeanor shifts immediately, and she introduces herself and her daughters.

Impressed to learn Maura once worked at Switzer’s, Bernie insists on walking with her to Rathmines as snow begins to fall. Maura finds herself drawn to Bernie’s direct, unfiltered warmth.

Bernie and her daughters walk alongside Maura. When the girls complain of tired legs, Bernie places Elizabeth in the pram beside baby Alice. Maura buys lollipops for the children from a corner shop. Noticing Maura repeatedly touch her stomach while watching the baby sleep, Bernie asks how far along she is. Maura blushes and admits she might be pregnant but is not certain. Bernie feels a sharp pang of guilt that her own pregnancy is unwanted while Maura’s is so deeply wished for.

Maura confesses to loneliness in her quiet home. Bernie, the eldest of seven and accustomed to chaos, envies the peace. She bluntly tells Maura that a missed period after intercourse means a baby is likely coming—no doctor needed—and warns that there is often no choosing how many children one has.

They arrive at Maura’s large, modern house in Rathmines just as Elizabeth wets herself in the pram. Maura invites them inside to clean up and have apple tart, and the kindness moves Bernie to tears. In the gleaming kitchen, the children marvel at the refrigerator and taste Coca-Cola for the first time.

As they eat, Maura explains that baking fills her long, empty days. Bernie retrieves her scrapbook to record the recipe, and Maura expresses her hope of starting her own scrapbook when her baby arrives. She admits she misses working and believes a child will ease her loneliness. When the girls grow restless, Maura offers to let them watch television—another novelty—and after they leave the kitchen, she tells Bernie she is having a lovely day.

Maura cleans the kitchen meticulously while Bernie sits with the baby. When Maura asks if childbirth hurts, Bernie realizes she knows nothing about reproduction. Maura recounts her traumatic first period at age 12 or 13, which occurred at school. Believing she was bleeding internally and dying, she stuffed her underwear with newspaper and waited for death. When the bleeding stopped and returned the next month, she understood that it was normal. Years later, when she asked her mother about it, her mother struck her with a tea towel.

Maura admits she has not told Christy about her potential pregnancy and reveals they never discuss such personal matters. When Bernie expresses shock, Maura confesses she has no one to talk to. Bernie declares they are going to be friends who talk about everything, and Maura agrees gratefully.

As Bernie and her daughters prepare to leave, Maura gives Bernie her expensive coat, framing it as an exchange for the meat. Just as they depart, Christy’s car pulls up unexpectedly early. Panicked because dinner is not ready and the apple tart is gone, Maura greets him at the door. He is in a foul mood and grows enraged that she accepted free meat and is on a first-name basis with the butcher. He also announces that his parents are coming for Christmas dinner.

When Christy demands apple tart, Maura lies that she burned it. He follows her to the landing, sniffing for evidence of smoke, then strikes her, causing her to tumble down the stairs. Standing over her, he shifts to feigned concern, blaming her clumsiness. Maura feels warmth and cramping and realizes she is miscarrying. Christy helps her to bed and leaves for the pub, expecting a steak dinner upon his return.

In the bathroom, Maura sees she is bleeding heavily. She considers calling for Christy as a doctor but fears he will blame her for losing the baby. After he leaves, she sees her bruised and swelling eye in the mirror and collapses to the floor, crying.

On the train in 2023, Maura weeps as she recounts this part of her story. Saoirse holds her hand and calls Christy a “bastard.” Maura stops crying and bursts into laughter, revealing that in fifty years of telling this story on this exact train journey, no one has ever used that word before. She compares Saoirse’s bluntness to Bernie’s, then recounts a previous year when a businessman listening to her story put on headphones to avoid hearing about childbirth. Saoirse offers to buy the next round of wine.

After two days of heavy snow, Bernie takes her daughters to the hospital for her appointment. Dr. Davenport dismisses her concerns about swollen ankles and headaches, instructing her to stay off her feet and drink black tea before bed. When Bernie insists something is wrong because this pregnancy feels different from her previous three, he grows impatient and tells her that all pregnant women worry, scheduling her return in six weeks.

In the waiting room, Bernie observes Christy’s charming interaction with his next patient, who tells Bernie what a wonderful man Dr. Davenport is and expresses pity that he and his wife have no children. When Bernie mentions her husband is Dr. Davenport’s butcher, the woman’s warm demeanor turns cold and dismissive.

Bernie takes her daughters to collect their new coats from Mrs. Stitch, a dressmaker. A distressed, crying teenage girl exits the bathroom as they arrive. Inside, Bernie smells bleach and vomit. Elizabeth finds a Lucozade bottle filled with murky liquid, which Bernie recognizes as bleach. Mrs. Stitch snatches it away.

When Bernie expresses concern, Mrs. Stitch tells her it does not concern married women. Bernie asks quietly if the girl is pregnant, and Mrs. Stitch’s reaction confirms it. Bernie confronts her about the poison, but Mrs. Stitch asks if she has a better solution. Bernie reflects on the grim fate of unmarried pregnant girls—families disown them, or they are sent to church-run homes from which babies never emerge. Mrs. Stitch states confidently that the girl will return because they always do. Bernie pays for the coats and leaves, deeply unsettled.

Needing to talk, Bernie goes to Maura’s house to show off the new coats and process what she witnessed at the dressmaker’s. When no one answers, she calls out after seeing a curtain twitch. Maura eventually opens the door wearing a headscarf pulled low over her eye, which slips as she helps with the pram, revealing a badly bruised eye. Bernie gasps.

In the kitchen, Bernie confronts her. Maura insists she fell down the stairs and confirms she lost the baby. Bernie pretends to believe her but suspects otherwise and does not press further. When Marie scrapes her knee playing outside, Maura tends to the wound with evident care. Bernie offers to accompany Maura to town the next day to buy china and some makeup to cover the bruise. Maura agrees, and Bernie leaves without mentioning the incident at the dressmaker’s.

At Switzer’s, Maura meets her former colleague Geraldine and repeats the lie about falling down the stairs. She and Bernie purchase purple eyeshadow to conceal the bruise, and Maura buys the most expensive set of china in the store. To entertain the restless children, Maura suggests a visit to Santy and offers to pay. Bernie reluctantly agrees but insists on no more charity. Santy turns out to be Gerry, the store’s maintenance man. The girls ask for expensive dolls’ dresses, and Maura feels guilty for putting Bernie in an awkward position.

Walking home, Maura apologizes for the promises Santy made. Bernie says Dan will figure it out. When Maura calls her lucky, Bernie looks at her bruised eye and says she knows not all men are good like Dan, and that Maura can talk to her about anything, anytime. Moved to tears, Maura suspects Bernie knows the truth without her having to speak it.