The American team marches into the massive Olympiastadion, and Evie is awestruck by the spectacle. The German crowd enthusiastically cheers the Americans, particularly Jesse Owens. Mary points out the Hindenburg airship overhead, decorated with Olympic rings and a Nazi swastika. Evie observes that swastika flags hang everywhere in Berlin, an unwelcome reminder of the politics surrounding the Games.

Evie spots Adolf Hitler in a private box. At home, Evie regularly heard updates about the Germans raising a military despite the terms of their loss in the Great War, and they recently retook territory they had lost to France. Mary mentions a rumor that Hitler uses body doubles due to assassination threats, but Evie is unsure why anyone would want to kill Hitler. The US team faces a dilemma when passing Hitler: They refuse to give the Nazi salute but do not want to give the similar-looking Olympic salute either. Evie asserts that Americans do not show loyalty to foreign leaders. A rower quickly places his hat over his heart, and the team follows suit without lowering the American flag.

The German team enters last to thunderous applause. The orchestra plays the German national anthem, and the entire stadium of one hundred thousand people sings “Deutschland über alles”—Germany above all. As the crowd performs Nazi salutes toward Hitler, Evie feels a sense of unease, finding the display both fake and frightening.

The German crowd continues chanting as thunder rumbles overhead. Athletes who will compete outdoors worry about rain, but Evie, drawing on her experience of the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, silently welcomes it. As Hitler officially declares the Games open, Evie notices that Jewish athletes Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, along with Jesse Owens and other Black athletes, shrink from the fervent Nazi chants.

The final torchbearer runs into the stadium carrying the Olympic flame, completing a new tradition of having multiple runners pass a flame from Olympia, Greece, to the site of the modern Olympic Games. Evie spots filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl directing a camera crew from a wheeled cart. Mary explains that Riefenstahl is creating an Olympic documentary with cameras positioned throughout the venue. Inspired by the spectacle, Evie confesses her dream to Mary: to win a gold medal, become famous, and be rich enough that she and her family will never worry about money again. Mary cautions that appearances can be deceiving but voices support for Evie’s goal, which makes Evie think of the note she received.

The torchbearer lights the cauldron. Soldiers release hundreds of pigeons as others fire a 21-gun salute. The loud shots scare the birds, causing them to defecate on the athletes and audience below. Everyone flees the stadium, but Glickman and other athletes jeer at Hitler. In the tunnel, Mary invites Evie to an after-party, but because Evie feels bound by the note’s instruction to tell no one about the meeting, Evie lies and says she is going to bed. She resolves to meet the mysterious stranger at the Maiden Bridge.

Outside the stadium, a German boy introduces himself to Evie as Heinz Fischer. He is her assigned Ehrendienst host, a youth guide trained to assist Olympic athletes. Needing to reach her secret meeting, Evie deceives Heinz by claiming that she has to fetch a teammate. Telling him to wait, she then slips away.

On a streetcar to the Spreekanal, Evie reflects on her past, recalling the severe drought and poverty during the Oklahoma Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Her family had borrowed money for equipment but could not harvest crops. On April 14, 1935, her younger brother John’s ninth birthday, a massive dust storm engulfed their house and buried the entire county in dust. The storm destroyed everything, throwing Evie against a wall and filling the air with suffocating dust. Though the family survived, when they dug out two days later, their farm and possessions were buried under mountains of sand. The disaster, which became known as Black Sunday, forced them to abandon their land and migrate to California. They and others like them were derogatively referred to as “Okies.” Now, Evie watches the rain and wishes for it to continue falling forever.

Evie arrives at the Spreekanal and locates the Jungfernbrücke, or Maiden Bridge. Walking along a crowded promenade, she notices a nervous tension behind the smiles of local Berliners, which makes her wonder what the Germans are afraid of. Two shadowy figures wait for her, and she sees that one is a huge, muscular, unfriendly-looking man in a German Olympic uniform. The other man is older, pale, and gaunt, reminding Evie of a vulture.

The older man is a journalist named Soloman Monday. Speaking with a British accent, he confirms that Evie received their note. The younger man introduces himself as Karl Hühnerbein, a German weightlifter. Monday reveals that he knows about Evie’s impoverished background, including that her community raised money to send her to the Olympic trials. When Evie asks what the note meant when it mentioned taking home gold, Monday reveals that they want her to help them rob the German national bank.

Evie reacts with disbelief and tries to leave, but Karl persuades her to hear them out. Monday explains that Karl worked construction on the new Reichsbank, the German national bank, which is visible across the canal. Though the building is not finished, its underground vault is operational and is filled with millions of dollars in Nazi gold. Karl explains that the vault had to be built first, before the rest of the bank.

Monday says their plan combines his intelligence with Karl’s strength and knowledge of the vault, but they need two more people with special skills, and they particularly want to use Evie’s gymnastic abilities. The vault entrance is guarded by soldiers, barbed wire, and a tank, but Monday assures her they have a secret underground route that bypasses all security. He explains the vault contains traps requiring Olympic-level athletes to overcome, and the Games provide perfect cover. Karl adds that robbing the bank will also hurt the Nazis, which surprises Evie.

Monday reveals that he chose Evie because she is desperate for money. Evie admits to begin tempted but refuses, still clinging to her plan to win an Olympic medal and become a movie star. Monday scoffs and asks what she will do if she does not win. Karl chastises Monday, explaining that acknowledging the possibility of losing is bad luck for athletes. After a tense moment, Karl tells her that she can find him at the weightlifting arena if she changes her mind. The two men let her leave.

The morning after the bridge meeting, Evie finds another note under her door. She fears a threat from Monday and Karl but discovers that it is a political pamphlet urging athletes to boycott the Olympics. The pamphlet shows a cartoon of a Nazi and an American athlete, labelled “Nonpolitical Sportsman,” shaking hands over the body of the Olympic spirit, with prisoners labeled “Catholic, Jew, Trade Unionist, and Black Man” (38) behind concentration camp bars.

Other female athletes in the hall, including gymnastics teammate Connie Lovato and Black runners Louise Stokes and Tidye Pickett, have received identical pamphlets. Connie and a Jewish diver named Mildred Cohen explain that the boycott movement has arisen because the Nazis are persecuting Jews and other minorities, making dissenters disappear into concentration camps. Louise notes that Black people face similar discrimination in America. Most of the athletes had already been encouraged to boycott the Olympic Games to avoid supporting Hitler’s Germany, but Evie never knew about any of these issues. Now, the U.S. team matron confiscates the pamphlets on orders from Avery Brundage, head of the American Olympic Committee, and warns the group that any athlete engaging in political talk will be sent home.

Evie reflects that unlike her, Black and Jewish athletes cannot simply show up and compete without considering politics. She resolves to put the issue out of her mind and focus on gymnastics.

Six days before the gymnastics qualifiers, Evie practices on the uneven bars but grows distracted by her thoughts about Monday and Karl’s offer. She realizes that Monday chose her because he believes she is desperate, and she is angry because she knows he is right. The distraction causes her to miss a catch and fall hard on the mat. Her coach, Coach Miele, encourages her to stay focused, but her teammates ignore her fall. Connie Lovato, whom Evie idolizes, gives her a disapproving look.

Heinz Fischer helps her up. Evie lies about why she abandoned him the previous night, and Heinz invites her to watch Olympic events that afternoon to help her relax before the qualifiers. Evie agrees. When Heinz asks why her teammates treat her poorly, she explains that she is the new girl. As Heinz speaks, he begins to mention his sister but quickly changes the subject, leaving Evie curious.

On a streetcar with Heinz, Evie recognizes the Unter den Linden boulevard from her trip to the Maiden Bridge. Heinz explains that the Nazis cut down the historic linden trees and replaced them with flagpoles bearing swastikas. Evie notices that Berlin appears perfectly orderly, with tense soldiers everywhere, but she senses that Heinz is hiding something behind his cheerful demeanor.

Outside the stadium, Heinz excitedly shows Evie a new technology: television broadcasting Olympic events to public screens with only a 58-second delay. The quality of the broadcast is blurry, but Evie appreciates Heinz’s interest in the process. Learning that Jesse Owens and Germany’s Luz Long are competing in the long jump, they rush inside. Owens has fouled on his first jump, and Long leads after round one. Evie reflects on the immense pressure Owens faces, as the athlete represents an entire race, as well as the ideals of equality and freedom.

On his second jump, Owens leaps 7.94 meters, setting a new Olympic record and taking the lead. Long fouls on his final jump, securing Owens’s gold medal. Having won the competition, Owens takes his final jump free from pressure. Evie realizes that in this moment, he can finally compete as an individual rather than as a representative for his race. He jumps 8.06 meters, breaking his own record again, and Long is the first to congratulate him. Hitler leaves his box as the stadium chants for Owens. Watching Owens’s triumph inspires Evie.

On day eight of the Olympics, Evie performs well in the first round of the gymnastics qualifiers and ranks second in her group. Mary cheers from the audience, and Heinz runs up to congratulate Evie. Eight American gymnasts are competing for four spots on the final team. Connie, in first place, gives Evie a respectful nod.

Before the uneven bars, Evie sees she has slipped to third place and begins doubting herself. To calm her nerves, she fantasizes about winning gold and becoming a movie star, imagining a role as Tarzan’s daughter. The fantasy works, and she completes the difficult move she had previously failed in practice, earning a personal best score and returning to second place.

In the afternoon session, other American gymnasts perform strongly. Jennie Kibler and Adelaide Duff both score higher than Evie, dropping her to fourth place. When the final scores post, Irma Cumiskey’s score pushes Evie into fifth place. She is now the first alternate, which means that she has failed to make the final team; for her, the Olympics are effectively over. Devastated, Evie slips away from the stadium alone, ignoring both Heinz and Mary.

Two days after the qualifiers, Evie has been hiding in her room under her blankets. Mary enters and tries to cheer her up, encouraging her to enjoy being in Berlin and watching the games. However, Evie feels like she does not deserve to enjoy anything. Before leaving for a party, Mary offers one last piece of advice from another of her films, reminding Evie that “there’s usually more than one trail up the mountain” (67).

Now that she is out of the finals, Evie recalls Monday’s note and rereads it, realizing that she can still take home gold by robbing the Reichsbank. She hesitates, wondering whether robbing a bank contradicts her rule-following nature, but she decides that playing by the rules has gotten her family nowhere. She commits to the heist but worries that in the nine days since their meeting, Monday and Karl may have found someone else. Energized, she quickly dresses and runs out to find Karl.

Evie runs to the Deutschlandhalle sports forum and arrives just in time to watch Karl compete in weightlifting. He wins the event with a new Olympic record of 155 kilos, or about 340 pounds. An American reporter watching alongside Evie expresses concern about a potential war with a German army of men as strong as Karl, but Evie cannot imagine Karl in a war.

After Karl finishes with reporters, Evie approaches him and asks if he and Monday have found another gymnast for their project. Karl reveals that Monday has another candidate in mind, but they have not approached the person yet. Evie declares that she is in, explaining that she does not have anything left to lose. Karl instructs her to meet him, Monday, and the fourth member of their team that night at the Opernplatz, where they will explain the full plan.