In Paris, Isabelle Rossignol startles awake as if still in camp roll call, disoriented and weak in a hospital among other survivors. Micheline Babineau tells Isabelle it is time to go home to Carriveau, where Vianne is waiting. Before they separate for their trains, Isabelle and Micheline say an emotional good-bye, clinging to the idea that they “made it” even as Isabelle cannot imagine a future.

On the train, Isabelle sleeps in feverish nightmares and arrives in Carriveau coughing hard and spitting blood. Vianne, heavily pregnant, almost misses her in the crowd until Isabelle waves. Vianne rushes to her, kisses her, and brings Isabelle back to Le Jardin, where Isabelle collapses into bed, burning with fever.

As Vianne lies beside her, the sisters finally speak honestly: Isabelle apologizes for endangering Vianne and Sophie; Vianne asks forgiveness for not believing Isabelle and failing her. When Vianne admits a “bad” Nazi was billeted after Beck, Isabelle understands the shame and reassures Vianne that what was done harmed Vianne’s body, not her heart.

Days pass in a haze of typhus and pneumonia, with Isabelle’s memories slipping and camp reflexes returning. Isabelle wanders into the rain, desperate to get to Paris so Gaëtan can find her, but Vianne brings her back and promises they will write. That night, Vianne gives Isabelle a letter from their father, left on his way to surrender himself; Vianne reads his confession and apology for abandoning them and his belated declaration of love.

A week later, as church bells celebrate the war’s end, Sophie reads to Isabelle in the yard and the household tries to rebuild. Vianne announces that Gaëtan has come. He embraces Isabelle, tells her she is still beautiful, and they exchange love and grief for everything the war has taken. Isabelle, overwhelmed by love and loss, looks to Vianne—finally bonded as sisters—while silently fearing she may be forgotten.