On a bitter February day, Martha Ballard closes her journal in frustration after days of relentless snow and cold. A letter from lawyer Seth Parker summons Martha to the Fosters’ parsonage, and she goes willingly because Rebecca Foster’s case is moving toward trial. At the parsonage, Martha notices that Rebecca is six months pregnant and that the house feels neglected without help, a sign of how much the scandal and isolation have worn Rebecca down.

Seth Parker explains that he has taken Rebecca’s deposition and now needs Martha’s statement for the court in Pownalboro. When Seth assumes Martha will only make her mark, Martha sharply corrects him, writes the deposition herself, and signs it. While Martha writes, Isaac Foster reports that Henry Sewall has delivered a letter saying another preacher has been hired and the Fosters must leave the parsonage by the end of April, just as Rebecca is due to give birth. Seth says he will appeal because Joseph North heads the church committee, but if that fails the Fosters will likely move to rented rooms at Fort Western.

After finishing the statement, Martha asks to examine Rebecca. In private, Rebecca tells Martha that the trial will not truly help because Joseph North is only being tried for attempted rape, and she believes there is no future for her family in the Hook. Rebecca says Isaac wants to fight to stay, but Rebecca wants to begin again where no one knows what happened to her. As Martha sits with her in silence, Martha feels the baby move strongly inside Rebecca’s womb and learns that the child quickened a month earlier. Rebecca admits she kept that from Martha because she had hoped the movement would stop, revealing how deeply she rejects the pregnancy born of trauma.

Leaving the parsonage, Martha is consumed by anger at a system that offers Rebecca no justice and no refuge. That anger leads Martha to a new line of thought: if Joseph North cannot be hanged for raping Rebecca Foster, perhaps he can be hanged for killing Joshua Burgess. Later, Martha records that she gave evidence at the Fosters’ house and hears from Mrs. Densmore that James Bridge’s wife delivered a stillborn son under Doctor Page’s care. The news rekindles Martha’s fury toward Benjamin Page and her contempt for those who still trust him.