Penn and Rosie contend with the bureaucracy of Poppy’s school regarding Poppy’s gender identity. The school administrators ask Penn and Rosie to clearly define the terms of Poppy’s identity. Penn and Rosie protest that Poppy does not know how to define it herself. The school requests that Poppy use the nurse’s bathroom instead of the boys’ or girls’ bathroom. During a New Year’s Eve date, Penn and Rosie agree that they should not aim for their children’s lives to be easy, but they should try to make sure their children are happy. “I wish them eternal beauty,” Penn maintains, “international travel, smart things to watch on TV. But if I can’t have everything, if I only get a few, I’m not sure easy makes my wish list” (83).

Poppy begins going to school as a fairy girl, like Princess Stephanie in Penn’s fairy tale. The kindergarteners are unfazed. Poppy’s school’s administrators continue to press Penn and Rosie to decide whether Poppy is a boy or a girl. Poppy tells her mother that she would like to be re-named Poppy rather than Claude.

Rosie reflects that “Claude” will become Poppy when her hair grows out. Rosie notes that some parents frown at her with disapproval when she is in public with Poppy clad in a dress. As predicted, Poppy’s hair grows long and she begins going by Poppy. Cindy Calcutti, the mother of Poppy’s friend Nicky, invites Poppy over for a play date. Poppy calls Rosie from Nicky’s house. Rosie and Penn arrive to collect Poppy, and Poppy bursts out of Nicky’s house sobbing. Nicky’s father, Nick Sr., comes out of the house and calls Poppy an antigay slur. Cindy is out getting a manicure. Poppy whispers to her parents that Nick Sr. has a gun. Rosie and Penn confront Nick Sr. for Nicky’s sake. The conversation gets heated and Nick Sr. pushes Penn. Cindy pulls up to the house in her car. Rosie informs Cindy what has happened. Rosie later finds out that Cindy is aware of Nick Sr.’s violent behavior. The next day, Cindy sends Rosie an email. The subject line says “Sorry:(” (103). Rosie deletes it without reading.

A young woman with severe injuries comes into Rosie’s ER. While examining her, Rosie realizes that she is transgender. The young woman, “Jane Doe,” stumbled into a college party and met a young man, Chad, who was interested in her until he realized her secret. Rosie imagines this woman’s first moments of truly embracing her identity: “She laughed—spontaneously and like a girl—and it felt like the first time she had ever laughed, like she was a three-month-old laughing for the very first time” (108). Upon realizing that Jane was transgender, Chad rallied his friends to physically attack Jane. When things began to get out of hand, Chad shot a gun in the air to scare his friends off, but he shot Jane in the shoulder instead. Rosie is unable to save Jane’s life.

After Rosie’s encounter with Jane Doe, she decides that Madison is not a safe place to raise Poppy. Penn protests that Rosie cannot control everything; there will be bad people like Nick Sr. even in the best of cities. Rosie, however, is an analytical thinker who likes to tackle problems head on. While Penn believes in happy endings, “[Rosie] developed a treatment plan” (112). She consults a map and researches the most tolerant cities in the United States. Rosie settles on Seattle. She accepts a job in a private practice instead of the ER. Penn and Rosie trade in their Madison farmhouse for a house on a hill with a pink attic bedroom for Poppy. Penn and Rosie’s eldest son, Roo, is not happy about the move.