On December 31, 1899, in the Cotswolds, Addie LaRue sits in a small, abandoned cottage she has been quietly inhabiting for a season, watching heavy snow erase the world outside. The solitude feels earned and gentle; she has spent countless New Year’s Eves in crowded cities, but tonight she is content with a borrowed home and a blank, white landscape.

Drawn outside by the untouched snow, Addie remembers a rare snowfall from her childhood in Villon—how she once covered pristine drifts with tracks and fingerprints, then mourned the ruined canvas. Now, she runs and plays again, but the snow smooths behind her, leaving no record of her presence. The lack of evidence, usually a torment, becomes a fleeting comfort, and she lets herself fall into the drift, staring up as the world muffles under fresh flakes.

While Addie lies in the snow thinking of Luc, Luc appears, teasing her for acting like a child even after two hundred years. Addie demands to know why Luc is there; Luc counters by questioning why Addie is living this “borrowed life.” Addie takes Luc’s hand, and they return to the cottage, where only Luc’s footsteps remain visible in the snow.

Inside, Addie tries to revive the dying fire, but Luc effortlessly rekindles it with a flick of his fingers, underscoring how easily he moves through the world compared to her. Luc needles Addie about longing to grow up into her mother, Estele, and Addie rejects his possessiveness. Their conversation turns to Paris, echoing Addie’s old confession that she once saw an elephant there and thought of him; Luc does not confirm her implication, but invites her to spend the turning of the century somewhere grander.

Addie refuses to go, saying she is happy where she is and does not trust Luc to bring her back. Instead of leaving, Luc sits with her like a truce-bound adversary, conjuring wine and tempting her with talk of Paris at the end of the decade—its writers, art, music, and “golden age” glow. Addie listens, imagining the coming World’s Fair and the illusion of clean breaks between centuries, until she drifts to sleep; when she wakes, Luc is gone, a blanket rests on her shoulders, and Addie is left to wonder whether he was ever truly there.