Over breakfast at the shack, Chase talks about building a house for Kya and hints at marriage, reassuring her his parents will accept her. He invites Kya on a two-day buying trip to Asheville, implying they will share a motel room. Encouraged by the talk of a future, Kya agrees.

On the road west, Kya confronts the altered land beyond the marsh and marvels at the mountains, reflecting on lost family ties. At a cheap motel, they finally have sex; Chase’s urgency leaves Kya in pain and dissatisfied, and the setting feels at odds with their past intimacy.

Weeks later, after improved but still unsatisfying lovemaking, Kya asks to join Chase’s holiday events and family dinner. Citing her shyness and lack of fit, Chase discourages her, saying what they share in the marsh matters more. Kya spends Christmas alone, then anxiously waits days for him to return.

Instead, Tate arrives. Kya furiously pelts him with rocks for abandoning her. Tate apologizes without excuse and warns that Chase goes out with other women, citing a recent party. Kya rejects his right to judge but listens as he admits cowardice. When Kya shivers, they go inside, where Tate is struck by her extensive, annotated collections and urges her to publish, offering to approach a publisher and taking sample illustrations.

Recognizing a painting of the first feather he gave her, they share a charged moment, but Kya says she cannot trust him and asks him to leave. After he goes, Tate’s warning lingers even as Kya tells herself Chase is better than Tate. A week after Christmas, Chase returns to stay the night, and they greet the New Year together, his melancholy music contrasting with the doubts now growing in Kya.