In August 2014, Henry Strauss realizes the days with Addie LaRue are the happiest of his life, even as his remaining time closes in. Instead of panic, Henry feels a strange calm and keeps repeating that he is not afraid, focusing on the relief of having found Addie and having her beside him.

Henry and Addie rent a car and drive upstate to escape the city heat and see the stars. Henry briefly considers taking an exit to visit his family, realizing he will not live to see Rosh Hashanah and may never get another chance to say good-bye, but he passes it and lets the moment go. They stop for peaches and sandwiches, hike in a state park, and spend the night picnicking on the car roof and then sleeping on a blanket under a crowded sky.

Under the stars, Henry asks Addie if she would make her deal again. Addie answers yes, explaining that her long life has held loneliness and wonder, war and art, madness and beauty; she is exhausted, but she has truly lived. When Henry presses whether fleeting joy is worth years of pain, Addie answers, “Always.” They wake to cooler air and the first hint of a season Henry will not see, and Henry again insists to himself that he is not afraid.

As weeks become days, Henry starts arranging the good-byes he can manage. He meets Bea and Robbie at the Merchant, keeping Addie across the bar so his friends will not forget him, while she still anchors him. They talk about Bea’s newly approved thesis proposal and Robbie’s upcoming premiere, and Henry privately remembers watching Robbie shine at a dress rehearsal.

Henry lies and says he is going upstate for the weekend to see his parents, asking Bea to cover the bookstore and Robbie to feed the cat. Bea and Robbie agree without realizing it is a final parting, and Henry decides that this is how a good-bye should feel: not a hard ending, but an unfinished line. Back home, Addie steadies him, but in the night Henry hears Addie get up and return, and the watch on the table ticks one step closer to midnight.