Rowan decides to investigate her growing suspicion that violence happened at the field hut. Remembering the strong smell of bleach there and knowing Dominic has kept Hank's phone, laptop, and passport instead of sending them with him, Rowan asks Orly to help her search the base lab for luminol. On the way she questions Orly about Dominic's feelings toward Hank, but Orly becomes defensive and anxious, which only deepens Rowan's unease. In the lab, Rowan finds a spray bottle of luminol and hides her real reason for wanting it.

When whales are spotted offshore, Raff rushes out with recording equipment and invites Rowan onto the Zodiac. Dominic lets her go and pointedly asks Rowan to watch out for Raff. At sea, Rowan fights panic as Raff explains whale behavior and guides the boat into a large group of fin whales so he can record them. After the whales pass, Rowan uses the opportunity to ask Raff to take her south to the seed vault instead of straight home.

At the vault, Rowan shows Raff the crumbling eastern wall and explains that water has reached the reinforcing steel, causing a dangerous failure that could collapse the structure. Raff is alarmed that Dominic dismissed the problem, and Rowan cannot believe Hank would have abandoned the seeds without addressing such obvious damage. Rowan then persuades Raff that it is unsafe to travel back at night, so they stay in the field hut with little food and no warmth. As they wait, Rowan tries to draw Raff out about Alex and then about his grief for his dead mother. Raff admits that beauty now makes him furious because Claire cannot witness it, punches the window in anger, and reveals how badly he needs a way to process his pain.

The conversation shifts when Raff warns Rowan that his lonely family, especially Dominic and Orly, may trust her too easily. He bluntly suggests that Orly wants a mother and asks whether Rowan plans to get close to Dominic, which unsettles Rowan and forces her to confront feelings she does not want to acknowledge. Later that night, after another disturbing dream, Rowan sneaks into the kitchen with the luminol. The sink and counters show nothing, but the entire kitchen floor glows bright blue under the spray, revealing that a great deal of blood was cleaned there. When Raff wakes and demands to know what he is seeing, Rowan stops hiding the truth and tells him it is blood.