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At work, Catherine can’t concentrate. Robert has temporarily moved out, and Catherine is still shocked by his anger. She realizes Stephen used Jonathan’s photos to create his story; even though it is a false narrative, Robert believes it and won’t let her explain. Kim has found someone else willing to talk about Stephen, but Catherine snaps at her to stop looking into him. Simon corners Catherine and pesters her with fake concern for her well-being. Catherine calls Robert’s office and discovers that he is working from home, so she heads to the house.

Catherine arrives home and sees Nicholas sitting with Robert. Robert says Nicholas is going to stay at the house for the week, and lies to their son that Catherine is going on a work trip. Before Catherine arrived, Robert packed her suitcase and called a cab. Robert ignores Catherine’s glances and silent pleas to talk. Catherine seethes with anger, but she plays along so Nicholas won’t be hurt. She hugs Nicholas goodbye, gets into the cab, and heads for her mother’s house.

Nicholas brings his bag to the spare room. He smells his mother on the bed sheets and realizes his parents have been sleeping apart. He dreads having to keep up awkward conversations with his father for the week, but he is happy he won’t have to take care of himself. Nicholas remembers his childhood and his strained relationship with his mother. Catherine cared for him and bought him presents to make up for her absences, but Nicholas ignored her attempts to be close. Now, Nicholas continues to be distant, and he resents his parents’ expectations. They don’t know that he’s doing drugs again and that he doesn’t have any friends. Nicholas also lied about having a girlfriend; he plans to use Robert’s money—ostensibly for a vacation—on himself. Nicholas ignores Robert’s call for supper and breathes in his mother’s scent again.

Catherine arrives at her mother’s house and lies that she must stay there while builders work on her house. She pretends to have a migraine so she can lie down. Her mother brings her water and pills. Catherine listens to her mother puttering around and feels sad for the woman’s lonely life. She hears her mother talking on the phone and notices the false cheerfulness she puts on. Catherine falls asleep and wakes up to her mother lying beside her. Catherine tells her secret to her mother, relieved to speak openly, even to someone who may not have heard and may not remember. Catherine falls asleep, and her mother reaches out to hold her hand.

Stephen wears Nancy’s cardigan and knitted hat, feeling like he and his wife are collaborators. Although most of the book was Nancy’s creation, Stephen came up with the title and changed the ending to kill off the Charlotte character. Stephen imagines Nancy writing the book and filling in the blanks left by the photographs. He is pleased that several copies of the book have sold and that more readers will come to hate Catherine.

Catherine visits Stephen’s house, which is noticeably unkempt. Her knocks go unanswered, so she peeks through the letter box and asks Stephen to listen to her side of the story. She calls the house phone and reaches the answering machine, which still has Nancy’s voice on it. Catherine puts her hand through the letter box to unlatch the door, but she can’t reach. She calls the house phone again and leaves a message, reiterating her desire to speak face to face.

Stephen describes Catherine’s visit as an attempt to break in. For Stephen, it is too late for Catherine to explain herself. Stephen and Robert have been emailing back and forth about Robert’s disgust with Catherine, though Stephen finds Robert somewhat annoying. Stephen held a book reading but felt uncomfortable in front of the audience. Afterward, Stephen asked Geoff for more technical help—this time to set up a Facebook profile. Stephen lied that the profile was for research on teenage social media habits for a new book. Really, Stephen wants to create a profile for Jonathan, planning to catfish Nicholas. After Geoff’s son helps Stephen set up a profile, Stephen uploads pictures and information about Jonathan, feeling like Nancy guides his choices.

Catherine tries to cover her anxiety on her way to work; she doesn’t notice Stephen as she walks in. Stephen has left copies of The Perfect Stranger at her office and accused Catherine of threatening him. Kim and Simon come to Catherine’s desk to seek answers. Simon thinks it is inappropriate that Catherine made Kim look up details about Stephen under false pretenses. Simon corners Catherine and tries to get her to reveal her secret. In frustration, Catherine throws the book at Simon, storms out of the office, and returns to her mother’s house. In response, the Human Resources department offers Catherine sick leave and anger management therapy while they investigate her actions.

Catherine remembers the day in 1993 when Robert left her and Nicholas in Spain. She was still feeling symptoms of postpartum depression and was struggling to keep Nicholas happy. She noticed Jonathan in a café and was envious of his freedom. They smiled at each other as strangers would, and Catherine and Nicholas left for the hotel by themselves. After she put Nicholas to bed, she took Robert’s advice and tried to enjoy her final days in Spain. She brought a book to the hotel bar and watched the sunset. Noticing Jonathan on the promenade below, she made eye contact with him again and smiled at him, not wanting to seem unfriendly. Then she saw a flash from his camera. Catherine now realizes that this is when Jonathan took an up-skirt photo of her. At the time, Catherine felt anxious but excited about the attention, which she feels ashamed of now. Robert called Catherine at the bar, and she spoke with him while Jonathan entered the hotel. When Catherine walked past Jonathan at the bar, he entreated Catherine to sit with him. 

Catherine’s mother interrupts Catherine’s memory with questions about her day.

Nicholas secretly smokes marijuana in the spare room. Nicholas has been smoking all day, but Robert hasn’t noticed. Nicholas goes on Facebook, posts a status, and responds to messages. Some friends try to get Nicholas to come to a nearby drug house, which he has been to before, but he chooses to stay home. Nicholas talks to his new friend Jonathan—Stephen’s fake account—and shares stories and advice. Nicholas reread The Perfect Stranger at Jonathan’s prompting, paying more attention to the sexually explicit parts. In return, he sends Jonathan other pornographic media. Nicholas likes that Jonathan sees him as a mentor.

Stephen learns details about Catherine’s deterioration from Nicholas. Stephen doesn’t feel sorry for Nicholas, who he thinks is covering up his feelings of failure with braggadocio. Stephen lured Nicholas into accepting his friend request by using one of Jonathan’s photos of Catherine, hoping to create questions in the boy’s mind about his mother. Stephen exploits Nicholas’s desire for connection and hopes to push Nicholas’s destructive habits further.

In her notebook, Nancy reflects on her meeting with Catherine, which left her with more questions than answers. To Nancy, Catherine came across as a liar, with her brief words and coldness revealing her cruelty. Nancy found Catherine neglectful of Nicholas, and assumes that her neglect led to Jonathan’s death. Nancy and Catherine visited Jonathan’s grave, but Catherine refused to look at the headstone. Since Catherine wouldn’t acknowledge Jonathan, Nancy wants to make Nicholas aware of Jonathan’s sacrifice.

Catherine recounts the day of the accident from her perspective. She fell asleep on her towel, knowing Nicholas was happily occupied with the new inflatable dinghy. When she awoke, the sea was rougher, and Nicholas was floating out deeper. She ran waist-deep into the water, but she knew she wasn’t strong enough to swim out to Nicholas. She yelled at bystanders for help, and it was Jonathan who dove in. Catherine considers her fear in that moment and punishes herself for her self-preservation.

As Jonathan swam out to Nicholas, a group gathered around Catherine. A Spanish man went to help Jonathan and brought Nicholas safely back to shore. Catherine wrapped the shivering boy in his towel, and the Spanish man, along with another, swam out to Jonathan. A boat brought Jonathan’s lifeless body back to shore. Other mothers surrounding Catherine protected Nicholas from seeing the dead body on the beach. They told Catherine to return to the hotel, so she and Nicholas left. Nicholas appeared unfazed by the event, and he never brought up the incident again. Catherine chose not to remind him.

Stephen listens to news reports about children who had been taken advantage of by adults, and he thinks about Jonathan—as well as his own actions with Nicholas. Stephen remembers how close Jonathan and Nancy were. Nancy gave Jonathan the awkward sex talk and encouraged Jonathan to be comfortable with his sexuality.

Stephen posts the rest of Jonathan’s pictures of Catherine on the fake Facebook profile and refuses to answer Nicholas’s questions. He includes a picture of young Jonathan and reveals the boy died because of Nicholas. He gives Nicholas page references in The Perfect Stranger to understand the story. In the post, Stephen adds an excerpt from Nancy’s notebook, where she questions Catherine’s dedication to her son. In Nancy’s eyes, Catherine was too selfish to save her son and may have even wanted Nicholas to die. Stephen leaves Nicholas to navigate the information by himself.