Poppy reflects on how her father romanticizes her as pure light, while she is drawn to the shadows where secrets live. For her fourteenth birthday she asked for a Super 8 camera, telling her parents it was for family memories, but her true goal was to document uncomfortable truths—her brothers’ fights and her mother’s drinking—because film would not lie like people’s recollections.

She screens her first reel alone in the garage using an old projector and a bedsheet. The silent footage shows her March birthday party: her mother wobbling with wine, Vincent Taylor looking wistful, and Danny Taylor genuinely relaxed and happy. She notes the lack of sound forces focus on body language and unguarded actions, echoing advice from Ned at the camera shop.

The film cuts to Vincent Taylor and Lydia on the couch, with Vincent stroking Lydia’s arm and Lydia leaning into him. Poppy then watches scenes from a bonfire at Mr. Stewart’s old house, with tall flames, kids dancing, and couples pulling each other close.

Vincent enters the garage, initially calm, but when the bonfire scenes appear he demands Poppy turn it off. He yanks down the sheet and shoves Poppy while trying to rip the reel from the projector, revealing agitation and fear about what the footage might show.

Their mother opens the garage door and asks what is happening. Vincent storms out without explanation. Their mother, focused on the housekeeping detail, warns Poppy about keeping the sheet clean and leaves as well, offering no comfort.

Poppy carefully saves the labeled reel, shaken and nursing a sore chest where Vincent elbowed her. She worries he would have destroyed the footage if their mother had not interrupted. She thinks about Vincent and Lydia’s recent arguments and the secret Poppy knows about Lydia that Vincent does not. She resolves to rewatch the films closely to see what else the camera might reveal.