Vianne retreats to calm herself after another clash with Isabelle and reflects on old wounds: their mother’s death, their father sending them away, and how he rejected Vianne when she was pregnant at sixteen, forcing Antoine to defend and marry her. Vianne realizes she repeated their father’s cruelty toward Isabelle, but decides survival matters more now; she must keep Sophie safe until Antoine returns.

Downstairs, Vianne cooks potato soup while Captain Wolfgang Beck tries awkward politeness, mentioning his wife’s pregnancy and his children. At dinner, Isabelle needles Beck about German attacks on fleeing civilians near Tours and nearly provokes him, but Vianne reminds her to think of Sophie. Isabelle and Sophie soon leave the table, abandoning Vianne in tense silence with Beck, who talks about his daughter and thanks Vianne for the meal.

Seeking air, Vianne steps into the starlit yard and is startled when Beck joins her, speaking wistfully about how peaceful the orchard looks despite the war. Vianne presses him about French prisoners of war, and Beck admits many will not return. Isabelle appears carrying her valise and Vianne’s hat, declaring she cannot stay and refuses to “make friends with the enemy”; Vianne accepts that Isabelle’s recklessness could endanger Sophie and reluctantly embraces her goodbye.

Isabelle attempts to reach the train station after dark, navigating blackout streets and a strict curfew, but a German sentry stops her and demands an Ausweis. Isabelle lies that her father is ill, yet the sentry refuses travel without papers and sends her away. Furious, Isabelle returns home, confronting Vianne with the new reality that they are trapped without passes; Vianne orders Isabelle to stay and help by standing in ration lines while Vianne teaches.

Over the next week, both sisters lose sleep under the strain of Beck’s presence. Isabelle begins her assigned errands, notices heightened German activity and Gestapo patrols, and waits at the butcher for scraps the Germans leave behind. Feeling the lure of defiance, she pockets a piece of chalk, slips into an alley, and draws a large “V” over an antisemitic propaganda poster—only to have an unseen man seize her wrist and warn that such an act is forbidden and punishable by death.