Suzanne and Wrecker go to see Carole, who is recovering from yet another cosmetic procedure. Roger now has symptoms of long COVID, a persistent syndrome of fatigue and pain that limits his activities severely. News is going around Key West about the forged vaccination cards delivered to Officer Nugent. At first, the police believed Nugent might be involved with the smugglers, but he has been cleared. The forged cards have been turned over to the FBI.

When Carole appears, Wrecker is startled by the results of her surgery, but he kindly tells her that she looks good. Suzanne—worried about what will happen if her father gets COVID again—urges Carole to get Roger out of Key West, to somewhere with a lower infection rate. Carole agrees.

Wrecker goes out fishing. While he is on the water, Suzanne calls to tell him that a cruise ship is headed into port in Key West, unexpectedly arriving a week ahead of schedule to avoid the planned blockade. Wrecker heads his skiff towards it, sees the muddy wake it leaves behind, and takes a video of two dolphins struggling to flee the silty water.

Wrecker and Willi go together to visit Cabeza’s grave. They stay quiet, because there are now four security guards at Vachs’s crypt. Wrecker is thinking about how upset Suzanne was when he showed her the video of the dolphins. Now, Suzanne is at an emergency meeting of Friends of Blue Waters. Wrecker has asked Willi to post the video to social media.

Later, Wrecker gets a call from his father, who is giving up his music career and coming home to Key West. His latest song, “Here Comes the Moon,” has enraged Beatles fans, who have been harassing him online. Wrecker is not excited about his father coming back, which disappoints Valdez VII. Silver Mustache pulls up in a red Porsche, and Wrecker cuts the conversation short.

Silver Mustache tells Wrecker that the final smuggling run will be the following night. Driving dangerously fast, he insists that Wrecker call in sick to work at the grocery store that day. When Wrecker asks whether Silver Mustache has been vaccinated, Silver Mustache says that of course he has—he is not stupid enough to risk getting COVID, and he has made sure everyone in his organization is vaccinated as well.

The next morning, Suzanne is delighted when Wrecker’s video of the dolphins goes viral. Reporters call her for comment, and she knows there will be press coverage of the flotilla blocking the cruise ship from leaving the harbor.

Wrecker finds his father sitting on the stoop. Valdez VII wants to stay with Wrecker and Suzanne, but Wrecker tells him no in no uncertain terms. Valdez VII has taken Wrecker’s advice and is trying to write more authentic music. Wrecker agrees to listen to it later.

Wrecker leaves the grocery store job early, claiming that he has a dentist appointment. The town is buzzing with rumors about the FBI agents who have come to investigate the fake vaccination cards. Wrecker hears the cruise ship sounding its horn to summon its passengers back aboard, and he knows that soon the Friends of Blue Waters flotilla will be crowding the harbor. At the docks, he sees protesters and several police officers keeping watch. Van Zorn waves Wrecker over and tells him that Nugent has been reassigned to parking patrol. When Van Zorn hints that he knows Wrecker is the one who dropped off the pizza boxes at the police station, Wrecker asks to talk.

Silver Mustache’s men have paperwork authorizing them to transfer Vachs’s remains to another cemetery. Willi sneaks into the cemetery to visit Cabeza’s grave for what she suspects is the last time. She worries that something will go wrong with Wrecker’s plan and that she will never see him again.

Coast guard vessels arrive and clear a path for the cruise ship’s departure, but the harbor is still crowded with boats and protestors throng the piers. Suzanne shouts into a bullhorn from a parasail towed by one of the boats. Aboard the go-fast, Silver Mustache expresses scorn, but Wrecker tensely tells him that people who call Key West home care about its environment.

Silver Mustache decides to say goodbye to Rodrigo in person. When Rodrigo is late, Wrecker starts to worry about the tides and tries to calculate whether he can swim to land before either Silver Mustache or Rodrigo shoots him. Despite his fear, though, he is determined to finish “what needs to be finished” (280).

Wrecker introduces himself as “Charles Breakwater” to Rodrigo and is astonished to learn that Rodrigo listens to Austin Breakwater’s music and is excited to meet Breakwater’s son. Rodrigo and Silver Mustache exchange a hug and cash for vaccination cards. Wrecker hopes that Willi is following their plan exactly, because his life depends on it. Just then, the spotter on Rodrigo’s boat sees a plane overhead. Nervous that it is law enforcement, the boats immediately take off in opposite directions.

When Silver Mustache goes into the cabin, Wrecker turns off the GPS. When Silver Mustache returns, Wrecker tells him there is a loose wire in the GPS. Silver Mustache manages to get the machine turned back on and sees that they are off course. Fortunately, Wrecker has already reached his intended destination: the sand bar where he first saw Silver Mustache. He runs the go-fast aground intentionally, pretending that it is an accident.

Silver Mustache is furious when he realizes that it will be hours before the tide turns and they can float free. Wrecker blasts an air horn to attract the attention of a boat coming through the channel, suggesting that perhaps this boat can tow them. The driver is Willi, disguised. Wrecker jumps to the sand bar, telling Silver Mustache that he will talk to the skiff driver. Instead, he jumps aboard the skiff and he and Willi take off into the night.

Wrecker and Willi duck as low as they can as Silver Mustache fires his gun at them. When they are out of range, both are shaken. Wrecker apologizes for endangering Willi. She answers that she knew it would be dangerous and to stop apologizing. They see a Coast Guard boat headed in the direction of the grounded go-fast; before leaving to pick up Wrecker, Willi called them to report a suspicious stranded boat. Willi puts an arm around Wrecker’s waist and tells him that she hopes their relationship will continue. He agrees, wishing he had been the one to say it first. They see choppers headed for Silver Mustache’s boat and realize that, as they’d hoped, he is in big trouble.

Silver Mustache’s men are pulled over while they are transporting the coffin full of cash, based on a tip received by Officer Van Zorn. The FBI confiscates the money, and the men are taken to jail. Silver Mustache is also taken to jail, and the Coast Guard seizes the boxes full of forged vaccination cards as well as the illegal weapons he has on board. The go-fast is seized as evidence. The Coast Guard tells Silver Mustache that the anonymous caller who tipped them off about his location said that the name of the go-fast is the Last Laugh.

Wrecker and Willi head for the police station, where they pick up Suzanne, who has been arrested for dive-bombing the cruise ship in her parasail. There, Van Zorn tells Wrecker that he might end up with a promotion for his role in tonight’s big arrests. Wrecker suggests that, if he is promoted, Van Zorn should do something about Nugent. Van Zorn agrees to fire the man as soon as he is able to. Wrecker points out that if Silver Mustache gets out of prison, Wrecker and his family will be in great danger. Van Zorn assures Wrecker that if he does, the people higher up in the criminal organization will hunt Silver Mustache down first.

On Sunday, Carole and Roger invite Wrecker, Suzanne, and Valdez VII over for brunch. They discuss news of the arrest of the members of a gang smuggling false vaccination cards. Silver Mustache—actually Marco David Quantraine—has both a long record of previous arrests and an active warrant for felony fraud in Colorado. The money for his powerboats apparently came from a scheme he engaged in to defraud the government out of pandemic relief funds, and he is now facing charges for this as well. Wrecker does not reveal his involvement with Quantraine.

Roger is looking healthier, and it was his idea to invite Valdez VII to brunch. Roger announces that he and Carole are selling the house and moving to Pebble Beach, in California. Carole asks Wrecker to come with them, but Suzanne insists that it will be better for Wrecker to finish high school. Wrecker is relieved, because he does not want to leave Key West. They all agree that Suzanne and Wrecker will come visit regularly.

That evening, Wrecker goes to see Valdez VII perform his new song, “A Ballad at the Tomb of the Isaac Allerton” at a Friends of Blue Waters rally raising funds for another blockade flotilla, as yet another cruise ship is scheduled to dock in Key West soon. The song is based on the experiences of an ancestral Valdez. Wrecker ignores that his father has taken liberties with the historical facts and compliments the song, pleased that his father is finally showing an interest in family history.

As Wrecker makes his way out of the rally, Nugent asks why he is carrying a fishing gaff. Wrecker explains that he found it diving in a wreck. Wrecker ducks into a bathroom and takes the gaff apart to get the thousand dollars out of its handle. He returns to the rally to tuck the money into the activists’ collection jar.

That night, Wrecker and Willi go to Cabeza’s grave one last time. Willi feels that she is finally ready to move on from her nights of mourning. They talk about the end of summer and the upcoming school year, and then walk out of the cemetery together, enjoying the warm night air and the sights, smells, and sounds of Key West. Wrecker asks Willi to join him in his skiff for the upcoming harbor blockade, and she agrees to go, on the condition that he takes her free diving afterward. Before they part, Wrecker summons his courage and kisses her on the cheek.