In the days before the December retreat, Viola reflects on numerous past conflicts between FlyButter and Nephilim employees, including issues involving FlyButter’s sound designer, Mila, and her former fiancé, a feud between Shannon and a Nephilim programmer, and disputes affecting several others. She focuses on her own complicated history with Jesse Andrews, Nephilim’s lead designer.

Six years earlier, Viola met Jesse at a job interview, where the CEO made sexist comments about her portfolio. Jesse defended her, then followed her out to apologize and recommend she apply to FlyButter. A year later, at a game expo, Mila, a high school friend of Jesse’s, introduced Viola to him, but Jesse pretended not to recognize her. Despite his consistent politeness and profound indifference toward her over the following years, Viola developed a persistent crush on him.

Nearly a year before the retreat, at an engagement party for Viola’s cousin and Jesse’s college roommate, Viola’s family pushed them to kiss under the mistletoe. Jesse refused with obvious disgust. Later, Viola overheard him tell her cousin he “wanted nothing to do” with her (77). Now, two days before the retreat, Viola worries about how she will work alongside Jesse on the project.

On the morning of the retreat, Mike asks Viola to ride to the Mount Baker lodge with Nephilim employees due to limited parking. Viola agrees before she discovers that the car belongs to Jesse, not Otto, as Mike suggested. Jesse politely takes her bag and loads it into his trunk.

During the three-hour drive, Viola sits in the back with Otto, head of Nephilim, while Ashley, another Nephilim employee, occupies the front passenger seat. The ride proves uncomfortable, and Viola is excluded from the conversation. Viola observes an intimate moment when Ashley cleans Jesse’s glasses, making her wonder if they are dating.

Upon arrival at the mountain lodge, Mike gossips that Jorge, whom he speculates is Otto’s boyfriend, may have quit Nephilim. He tells Viola that she and perhaps Jesse are the only ones who haven’t had a public falling-out with someone from the other studio. Viola notices Jesse has already taken her bag from the trunk and is carrying it into the lodge.

At the lodge, the FlyButter and Nephilim teams segregate themselves into separate groups. Viola receives her room key for number four. Her friend Ethan reveals he is in room 18 while his secret girlfriend, Shannon, is in room three. Viola offers to swap rooms, moving herself to the quieter loft wing.

When Viola reaches her new room, number 18, she discovers that her neighbor in room 17 is Jesse. Upon learning that they will be living next door to each other, Jesse immediately offers to request a different room. Viola, determined to maintain professionalism, reassures him that she will be a quiet neighbor. Jesse curtly promises to stay out of her way before entering his room. Viola enters her own room, feeling hurt but resolving to make the collaboration work.

At dinner, assigned seating forces the teams to mingle, but conversations cluster by company. When John, a Nephilim employee and Mila’s ex-fiancé, makes a snide comment about Mila, Viola deliberately spills eggnog in his lap. After dinner, Viola makes genuine efforts to connect with Clara, a Nephilim employee, and explores the lodge’s amenities with Mila. She then heads to the library with her copy of The Sunken Heart, the first book in The Limerence Saga, reflecting on how she reread the series to her sick father and how discovering the definition of the word “limerence” changed her understanding of the story.

On the way, Viola overhears Nephilim employees John, Ashley, and a programmer. John argues they should let the collaboration fail because StarPlay will then likely award the project to Nephilim. He claims that Otto and Jesse support this plan. Furious, Viola bursts into the library and finds Jesse. She confronts him about the sabotage and his years of cold treatment toward her. Jesse seems confused and tries to leave, presumably to confront his team. When Viola grabs his wrist to stop him, he forcefully pulls away, looking angry and flustered by her touch, then leaves without explanation. Viola notices Jesse was reading a well-loved copy of The Sunken Heart.

The next morning, Viola wakes anxious and fearful that her chance at working on the project is slipping away. In the dining room, the teams sit separately again. Viola decides not to tell FlyButter about the sabotage plan, fearing that open warfare would ruin her opportunity to work on the game.

Jesse abruptly stands and addresses both teams, publicly denouncing any plan to sabotage the collaboration. He declares that if they fail to work together, a larger studio will get the project instead of either team, and he threatens to address anyone who jeopardizes the opportunity. He stares directly at John. 

Viola spontaneously stands and announces that FlyButter’s position is the same. Mike supports them, threatening to fire uncooperative employees. Otto then issues the same ultimatum to Nephilim, stating that, as usual, “what Jesse says, goes” (63). Jesse directly challenges John, who meekly states he has no comments. The confrontation clears the air, and Viola feels genuinely hopeful about the collaboration for the first time.