As 1972 unfolds with escalating casualties and public disillusionment, Frankie watches the news and struggles with fragile stability. With Bette McGrath recovered enough to be independent, Frankie resumes surgical nursing at the local medical center and keeps busy with League of Families work. She dreads the Fourth of July but must attend her parents’ restored social gathering, where the rhetoric centers on patriotism and men’s service, erasing women like Frankie.

At the party, a fireworks crack triggers Frankie’s combat reflex; she drops to the ground, humiliated. Psychiatrist Henry Acevedo, present as a hospital board member invited by Bette’s fundraising circle, steadies her and walks her home through the chaotic beachfront crowds. At her bungalow, shared grief surfaces—Henry’s wife died of cancer—and Frankie asks him inside, making clear she seeks physical comfort without love. They sleep together, and Frankie allows passion back into her life while keeping emotional boundaries.

Over the summer, their intimacy settles into a discreet, noncommittal relationship. Frankie starts birth control at Planned Parenthood, noting new legal access for single women. She avoids integrating lives or confiding in family and friends, even as Henry brings relief from loneliness.

Barb writes from Chicago, teasing out Frankie’s secret and announcing plans to join VVAW actions at the upcoming Republican National Convention. Despite initial reluctance, Frankie and Henry join a growing caravan to Miami. In the park encampment led in spirit by paralyzed veteran Ron Kovic, the VVAW prepares a silent march they call the “last patrol.”

During the march, Henry steps back, insisting the line belongs to veterans like Frankie. Frankie walks with Barb in silence behind wounded veterans toward the convention center, confronting riot police and tension. A congressman escorts three wheelchair-bound vets inside, and their shouted plea to stop the bombing later interrupts President Nixon’s acceptance speech, securing national media attention even as most protesters are kept outside.

Afterward, Barb questions Frankie about Henry and love; Frankie insists she cannot risk love again because of her enduring grief over Rye Walsh. Back home, news coverage confirms the protest’s impact, but the collective memories stirred by the march reignite Frankie’s nightmares. She wakes from a flashback with Henry beside her, then smokes alone in the kitchen, recognizing how the protest has resurfaced the pain she tries to suppress.