In a flashback to Bobby's third birthday, Beth watches the village obsess over the lavish preparations for Gabriel Wolfe and Louisa's society wedding at Meadowlands. The extravagance of the flowers, champagne, marquees, and celebrity guests contrasts sharply with Beth's own plans for a small family picnic. The gossip unsettles Beth because it keeps Gabriel and the life she once imagined constantly in view.

At home, Bobby wakes early and proudly announces that he is three. Frank and Bobby share their familiar ritual of retelling the dramatic stormy night of Bobby's birth, including Jimmy's role in helping Beth. Bobby then goes milking with Frank, and later Beth and Bobby happily prepare simple birthday food and cake for a celebration limited to close family, showing how fully Beth has built her life around Blakely Farm.

As the wedding hour arrives, Beth finds that curiosity and unresolved feeling are stronger than her resolve to ignore it. She takes Bobby to the village and, pretending they are spies, hides with him in the graveyard to watch the couple leave the church. Beth sees Gabriel in top hat and tails, unchanged and striking, and feels a surge of jealousy as he poses with Louisa for the photographers in the public display of wealth and importance that surrounds their marriage.

Watching more closely, Beth sees Louisa's mother, Moira, bring out Gabriel and Louisa's toddler son, and the family pose together for the cameras. The sight confirms that Gabriel and Louisa have their own completed family just as Beth has hers, and Bobby soon grows bored with the spectacle. Beth turns away from the wedding feeling both the sting of what might have been and the deeper certainty that Bobby is her greatest gift, ending the scene by embracing her son and recommitting herself to the life she chose.