In late April 1941, Isabelle receives a cryptic note—“The curtains are open”—delivered to Vianne’s house, alarming Vianne and prompting questions about Henri Navarre. Isabelle refuses to explain, destroys the note, and hurries into town, realizing only at the door that the summons could be a trap but entering anyway.

Inside the smoky back room, Henri and Didier tell Isabelle about a communist prefect in Chartres who survived torture and is trying to reach London to help organize a Free French movement under de Gaulle’s call. Because Henri and Didier are being watched, they ask Isabelle to deliver an urgent letter to a Paris contact and, more significantly, to remain in Paris as an ongoing “letter box” for future exchanges. Understanding the risk and the need to lie to everyone she loves, Isabelle agrees and asks Henri to watch over Vianne, but Henri warns there is no real safety; Isabelle’s next hurdle is obtaining an Ausweis.

The narration shifts to Vianne, who worries Isabelle’s recklessness has finally crossed into something that could bring deadly consequences. While preparing their meager rations, Vianne hears a motorcycle and sees Captain Beck arrive with soldiers and a lorry; they begin smashing down the roadside stone wall and roses, explaining that orders require clear sightlines because someone is spreading anti-German propaganda.

Beck apologizes but cannot stop the demolition, and his men begin requisitioning Vianne’s possessions, carrying out furniture, a rug, and even the breakfast table. Isabelle arrives mid-looting and challenges Beck’s justification, then abruptly claims their father is ill and has summoned her to Paris to nurse him.

Beck agrees to procure a travel pass for the “family emergency,” glancing toward Vianne as he decides. Once Isabelle has what she needs, she admits privately to Vianne that their father is fine and that the illness story was a lie to secure the pass; she offers a cover story that she is going to Paris for Henri and romance. Vianne, furious and frightened, calls Isabelle selfish for leaving her and Sophie behind under Beck’s control, while Isabelle warns Vianne not to trust Beck and to keep away from him.