Poppy and Alex leave their stifling Palm Springs apartment in swimsuits, hoping the pool will offer relief, only to find it completely drained. A chatty couple they met in the cab from LAX recognizes them as newlyweds and explains that a child contaminated the pool badly enough that it had to be emptied. The couple cheerfully heads off, but Poppy and Alex are left even more discouraged because the one easy escape from the heat is gone.

Back upstairs, the apartment feels unbearable, and Nikolai continues rejecting Poppy’s calls about the miserable rental conditions. In frustration, Poppy grabs scissors and cuts away the plastic sheeting covering the balcony, hoping to let air in, but the desert night is just as hot. Alex concludes that they need to abandon the apartment and pay for a hotel, but Poppy refuses because she is still trying to make the trip feel like their old cheap, chaotic vacations.

The heat and stress push them into a fight about what the trip really means. Poppy insists that they are supposed to roll with setbacks the way they used to, while Alex argues that too much has changed and that she is forcing their friendship into a past version that no longer exists. Alex finally says outright that they cannot go back to what they were, and the argument leaves both of them raw, hurt, and close to tears.

Then thunder breaks the standoff, and rain begins to pour. Poppy and Alex rush to the balcony, tear away the remaining plastic, and stand in the storm laughing with relief as the rain cools them down. In the calmer moment that follows, Alex apologizes, Poppy admits she does not want to lose him again, and they fall into a close embrace. When Alex promises he will stay as long as Poppy wants him, Poppy finally says that she always wants him, bringing them to the edge of the kiss and confession they have long delayed.