Nora surfaces in a saltwater rock pool beside Bronte Beach, Sydney, and realizes this is her chosen Australia life. Small details—an orange Casio, a locker key, a tattoo and scars—suggest a different persona. A local swimmer and a kind-eyed man greet Nora like a regular, and the pool sign confirms she is in Sydney, not Byron Bay.

Unsure of her schedule, Nora is told she may start at eleven and will see the man “this arvo.” Checking her phone, Nora finds unfamiliar contacts, a cheery email to Charlotte listing a Bronte address, an Instagram of poems, and a text from Dan announcing a work trip to Australia. The apartment she returns to is shabby; her flatmate Jojo vapes, games, and treats Nora as a poet. Fluoxetine, scars, and the Phoenix tattoo hint at ongoing struggles.

Jojo riffs on conspiracy theories and cautions Nora against cat-sitting. When Nora asks about Izzy, Jojo bluntly says that Izzy—Nora’s old friend—died. Shocked, Nora searches the news and reads that Isabel Hirsh was killed in a crash near Coffs Harbour while driving to Nora’s birthday; Izzy had just begun work with Byron Bay Whale Watching Tours.

Reeling with grief and guilt, Nora gets a call from “Work” demanding to know why she missed her shift selling tickets at the ferry terminal. The mismatch between expectation and reality, coupled with the devastating loss of Izzy in this life, leads Nora to fade out and leave this possibility behind.