At Le Jardin, Vianne finds life calmer without Isabelle but grows anxious in the quiet, especially as her money runs out and she realizes she must rely on her small teaching salary. She takes Sophie to town for rations, watching German control tighten around them.

In the butcher’s queue, Vianne sees a propaganda poster and a new sign reading NO JEWS ALLOWED. When Vianne asks for Madame Fournier, a new owner coldly tells her the shop is no longer the Fourniers’ and offers only smoked pigeon. Outside, Sophie protests the injustice, but Vianne, frightened by public executions, insists Sophie stay silent and accept how dangerous it is to resist openly.

Back at Le Jardin, Vianne’s fear about winter and Sophie’s health overwhelms her until Captain Beck, unexpectedly home, speaks to her about sleeplessness and loneliness. Beck reveals he has learned Antoine is alive in an officers’ prison camp (an Oflag) in Germany and gives Vianne a crumpled letter from Antoine, explaining she can now send care packages (though future correspondence must be on postcards). Vianne reads Antoine’s loving message, clinging to the hope of his return.

In Paris, Isabelle nervously follows coded instructions to a clandestine meeting, where she is introduced to the resistance group: Monsieur Lévy, two young men, and Anouk, her contact. Lévy warns Isabelle that her impulsiveness could endanger everyone, but accepts her, promising false papers and stressing secrecy even from family. Anouk assigns Isabelle a timed delivery to a tabac in Amboise using a torn banknote as proof.

The group is shaken when an evaded RAF pilot is brought in; Isabelle’s ability to speak English makes her immediately useful as she explains the group’s intentions and the risks they are taking. Over the next days Isabelle makes multiple deliveries outside Paris, then decides the reopened bookshop will serve as her contact point. When her father forbids reopening, Isabelle defies him; he grudgingly relents but claims the locked back storeroom as his, ordering Isabelle never to enter.