As Ted, Louisa, and Christian’s mother escape the museum, the alarm blares and they flee to the car, bickering. The next day the local paper reports a break-in; days later the world learns that instead of theft, a world-famous painting has been hung anonymously in the hometown museum, a “reverse heist” that draws tourists and reporters. The auction house owner privately calls Ted, professes his belief that some art should belong to everyone, and deliberately claims to have “lost” Ted’s number and documents, ensuring no trace leads back to Ted. The painting remains in the museum, and the mystery becomes legend.

Ted receives another call from the train conductor who still has Kimkim’s ashes. After tracking Ted’s contact via the mother who took Ted’s suitcase that night, the conductor arranges to send the ashes home via a chain of conductors and invites Ted to call him personally; Ted, flustered but warmed, hints he might ride the train again.

Kimkim’s funeral takes place on a summery day: the minister reads scripture, Christian’s mother reads poetry, and Louisa paints small wings on the gravestone. Afterward, Louisa and Joar move Ali’s stone beside Kimkim’s. Joar, attending on an ankle monitor thanks to an exception Ted learned about, jokingly asks to pretend Ted’s funeral is tomorrow so they can go to the movies. They cover the graves with flowers.

Walking home, they meet children drawing with chalk; Louisa joins, astonishing them with lifelike skulls and cockroaches, and keeps the chalk. She draws on walls from the church to the sea, sees the rebuilt harbor, and at the pier senses the old friendship’s presence. On the walk back she asks about living without Ali and Kimkim; Joar and Ted point out houses where they imagine their friends “live,” playing hide-and-seek with their memories.

Louisa presses Ted and Joar about their futures. Ted reveals he found that the boy who stabbed him is in prison and tentatively wants to teach there; Louisa supports him, and Joar jokes, but Ted’s gait and spirit are clearly healing. Louisa proposes painting a sign when Joar grudgingly considers opening an engine-repair workshop; he agrees on the condition she does not stay, which she promises.

The next day, Christian’s mother leverages a connection with a principal to get Louisa into art school. Ted and Joar pool money—mostly Ted’s—to support her. Louisa learns little from teachers but finds her community among artists living and dead, haunts galleries, paints daily, travels by train, boat, and plane, and eventually becomes a renowned artist, a postcard for others.

In a future city, Louisa spots a teenager painting a wall and approaches with paint-stained hands, recognizing something profound in the work. Meanwhile, Ted settles in the seaside town, resumes teaching, and inches toward new love. He rents a small house on his childhood street, visits his brother and their mother, tolerates his brother’s dogs, and savors a day when a neighbor asks for piano lessons. He often sits with Christian’s mother; the minister quietly leaves Ali’s and Kimkim’s stones undisturbed and redistributes flowers from Kimkim’s grave to neglected graves. Ted and Joar visit the museum to stand before the painting for an hour, and Joar takes Ted’s hand.

Late one night, Louisa calls Ted from another time zone, breathless about discovering “one of us,” describing a teenager’s wall painting that made her forget loneliness and fear. Ted urges her to help if the artist is truly one of them, and Louisa agrees, declaring a new adventure. They tease each other about sounding happy and old, and Louisa proposes that Ted should write a book. Ted, at sunrise, asks what a man like him would write about.