Matilda listens to a podcast featuring Kingsley discussing his painting Cliffside Gothic. He recounts a Grimm tale about three brothers who, though pitted against each other by their father, choose to live together and are buried in the same grave. Kingsley contrasts this happy fantasy with the story of Cinderella, which he calls true because it depicts sibling competition and parental cruelty that happens in all kinds of families.

At two o’clock, June arrives to lock the office. Matilda surrenders her devices, not wanting to anger Kingsley before meeting him. June notices Matilda’s scraped hands from the Beechwood Island trip. In the kitchen, she treats them, claiming she was once a critical care nurse but that Kingsley rescued her into a creative life. When Matilda asks about Kingsley’s past and absence, June gives evasive, philosophical answers, saying the truth is whatever story his soul wants to tell. She refuses to show Matilda his private notebooks and says she will consider showing her the studio. Before Matilda realizes what is happening, June injects her arm with what she claims is an antibiotic for the inflammation.

That night, Matilda has a dream in which she lies paralyzed in the Iron Room. Kingsley stands over her, looking much older than in photographs, wearing a paint-spattered shirt. He whispers about a girl he once knew, Isadora or Persephone, and a baby he left before birth. Matilda tries to identify herself as that baby but cannot move or speak. Kingsley calls her Melinoe twice. She reaches for him but remains frozen until the dream ends.

Four days into her visit, Kingsley remains absent. Matilda explores the castle and finds a note in a kitchen drawer addressed to Peter Pevensie of The Chronicles of Narnia and signed “Eustace Scrubb.“ While swimming with Meer, she asks about it; he confirms Kingsley read the Narnia books to him, but says the note is not for him. Matilda expresses frustration with Kingsley’s absence and his failure to arrange her travel. When Matilda mentions Kingsley promised her a painting, Meer reveals it is a portrait of her, titled Lost, and offers to show it to her.

Meer leads Matilda to his messy room at the top of Chalk Tower. The painting, based on one of her Instagram photos, shows her kneeling on a raft in a violent sea, looking both vulnerable and warrior-like. Deeply moved, Matilda feels her father has seen and understood her isolation. Later, Matilda emails Kingsley, begging him to return. He replies that he is flying to Italy for an extended work trip but encourages her to stay. Disappointed yet determined, she sends him a photograph from her sketchbook—a monster design based on the dining room chandelier—hoping to entice him home.

Early one morning, Meer uses hidden keys to take the car for a clamming trip to Lake Tashmoo. At the water’s edge, Brock, a former child actor, tells Matilda about his troubled past. His parents’ vicious divorce consumed his earnings from the sitcom Men and Other Critters. At 14, he obtained legal emancipation. After the show was canceled, he developed addictions to Ritalin and cocaine. Following rehab, he became obsessed with Kingsley’s painting of Persephone and hired a detective to find Hidden Beach. He arrived unannounced. Brock intrigued Kingsley; to Kingsley, Brock was  someone who had escaped terrible circumstances, similar to figures in his paintings. Kingsley painted him in Sammy, which depicts Brock burning a donkey skin by a bonfire, symbolizing the destruction of his old self. By the time the portrait was finished, Brock had become part of the household.

That evening, June makes clam chowder and shares stories about Meer and Tatum as children. She describes Tatum as a selkie from Scottish legend, loyal first to the ocean. When Matilda examines the eight-foot-wide painting Selkie Child, she sees a camouflaged seal swimming through sunlit water before emerging as 10-year-old Tatum, the sealskin drifting away. Later that night, the group sneaks to swim at the Plum Road Estate’s heated pool.

June increasingly absents herself, baking bread at night but remaining in her studio during the day. Matilda reads a book from The Chronicles of Narnia featuring Eustace Scrubb, connecting the character to the mysterious note. On the beach, Meer draws on everyone with Sharpies. When Brock’s drawing of a piranha plant from Matilda’s video game story looks phallic, Tatum offers to fix it, resting his cold hand on her calf. The touch has a strong effect on Matilda as she continues describing the game.

Around the 10th day of her visit, June explains her philosophy: Kingsley owes no one stability, and everyone is free to leave Hidden Beach. When Matilda questions this approach to parenting young children, Tatum defends June, saying she took him in when he was full of rage after his parents’ deaths and gave Brock refuge when he was barely sober. June tells Matilda she is free to go if she dislikes waiting. Feeling trapped, Matilda decides to arrange a flight home. Meer appears and desperately begs her to stay, saying he has plans for them and wants her to meet their father. Matilda agrees to remain.

That morning, Meer takes Matilda to Meadowlark Barn to visit the chickens. He confesses her presence has made him think about a life beyond Hidden Beach, possibly raising poultry, which is partly why he wants her to stay. That evening, Tatum and Meer play guitar and ukulele outside. When Tatum begins “Wasted“ by Wooden Cage, a song Matilda loves, he stops self-consciously. She sings a line to encourage him, and they continue together, joined by Brock. Matilda feels profound love for this place she wanted to leave that morning.

The next morning, Holland Terhune knocks on the door. She admits she sought Matilda out after recognizing her resemblance to Persephone, hoping for access to Kingsley. After apologizing, Holland explains how deeply his art speaks to her about her troubled family. Matilda lets her tour the house. In the breakfast nook, Holland becomes emotional upon seeing Cliffside Gothic. She reveals she is a Sinclair; her family owns Beechwood Island, and the teenagers who died in the recent fire were her second cousins. Holland identifies the figures in the painting as her young aunts—Carrie as Cinderella, plus Bess and Penny—with their mother, Tipper Sinclair, as the stepmother. The cliffs in the painting match those on Beechwood.

That evening at dinner, June introduces a guest, Gabe, Kingsley’s cultural property lawyer. June explains a collector has offered $8 million for Prince of Denmark, but Kingsley will not respond to sign the paperwork. After drinking, Gabe aggressively questions Matilda, accusing her of coming for money. She denies it and mentions Kingsley promised her the painting Lost. June disputes this claim. Meer confirms Kingsley told him to give it to Matilda, but Gabe insists the gift is not official without Kingsley’s confirmation and proper provenance documentation. He warns Matilda she does not own the painting.

After Gabe leaves, Matilda and Tatum clean up together. He says she should have the painting and asks about her mother. Matilda opens up about her mother’s pattern of threatening abandonment and how she recently left for Mexico with a new man despite Matilda’s pleas to stay together. Tatum shares his own feelings after his parents died in a car crash while intoxicated. He explains how he eventually learned to see their deaths as a mistake rather than deliberate abandonment. Moved by their vulnerability, Matilda thinks Tatum might hug her, but she impulsively steps back, conflicted about her attraction to this moody, territorial boy who frustrates her.

In the dining room, they discover dirty dishes covered in flies and a pile of Kingsley’s paint-stained laundry. Matilda notes the contrast with June’s claims of being a critical care nurse. Tatum reveals June was never a nurse but a waitress who dropped out of college. When Matilda mentions June’s injection, Tatum admits he knew June gave her a sedative. He confesses June told him what she had done, and he carried the unconscious Matilda upstairs. Despite Matilda’s disbelief, Tatum defends June, insisting she felt it was necessary and that he trusts her judgment.

Late that night, Matilda tries to make sense of the situation. Using keys from a box labeled Spoils of War, she unlocks the Oyster Office. She searches online for Prince of Denmark and is horrified: The painting shows Meer kneeling on an indigo bed, holding a knife above a dead, repeatedly stabbed man who resembles Kingsley. Searching the office, she finds a spiral sketchbook labeled “Cello, Summer 2012” hidden under the desk. It contains drawings of Brock and the dead Sinclair teenagers, plus a series done in Sharpie, including a piranha plant from the video game she described to the boys. Since Kingsley has been gone and could not have drawn this, Matilda theorizes Meer has been forging his art, either because Kingsley trained him as a successor or because their father is dead.

At dawn, Matilda confronts Meer in his bedroom with the sketchbook. Meer denies drawing in the book or forging anything. He argues the plant monster is simply typical of Kingsley’s work and that their father likely just tried using a Sharpie. Matilda wants to believe him but remains uncertain. Tatum interrupts from downstairs, announcing that a box of live animals has arrived addressed to Meer.

In the kitchen, Meer excitedly reveals he ordered a poultry grab bag—an assortment of chicks, ducklings, and other baby birds—inspired by Matilda’s casual suggestion about raising chickens. He lures the barking dog, Glum, outside with bacon and admits he rushed the order on Brock’s credit card. Tatum is angry, insisting they cannot handle another responsibility and must send the birds back. Matilda defends Meer, calling Tatum controlling. Meer announces he is taking his poultry to the pool house and will not speak to Tatum until tomorrow.

Tatum stops Matilda in the kitchen, gently touching her elbow and telling her not to interfere with a situation she does not understand. Angry, she impulsively kisses him. After a moment of passionate response, Tatum pulls away, saying it is a bad idea. He insists he does not want to kiss her. Humiliated, Matilda claims she was just bored and storms out. In the pool house lounge, she finds Meer surrounded by 10 cheeping baby birds: four yellow chicks, two ducklings, two larger brown-backed birds, one white long-necked bird, and one striped chick. To distract herself from Tatum, Matilda helps Meer name them.

Over the next days, Matilda and Tatum maintain an awkward truce, pretending their kiss never happened. The four attempt to build a hutch but fail after four days of trying. June stops joining dinner entirely, leaving only fresh-baked bread each morning. One night, Tatum leads them to trespass at another location, the Robertson Estate pool. He starts to tell Matilda about something he bought but closes himself off, refusing to explain. She confronts him, accusing him of being deliberately secretive and pushing her away. They have a major fight. Holland Terhune appears—the pool is hers. She invites them to stay and summons her friends: Winnie, Olive, Jia, Agnes, and Amma arrive with rum and speakers. Matilda drinks heavily, becoming jealous as she watches Tatum talk to other girls. She loses track of the night.

The next morning, Matilda, Meer, and Tatum are severely hungover. Tatum makes a hangover smoothie with bananas and herbal extracts. As Matilda writes No Rum on Meer’s arm with Sharpie, the group pieces together the previous night. Brock reveals he had a brief hookup with Amma and that Agnes played footsie with him in the hot tub. Despite feeling awful, Matilda scrambles eggs and makes toast for everyone. When she serves Tatum, he thanks her and touches her hand—a gesture that feels like both an apology and a spark. Meer suggests seeing Holland’s group again. Tatum immediately objects, reigniting Matilda’s anger. She snaps at him for being antisocial and abruptly leaves to return to bed.