One year after Avery Grambs inherits the Hawthorne fortune, Avery gives her only interview of the year from a room in Hawthorne House now called the Nook. Avery describes her life as extraordinary but still not normal, emphasizing that she understands how lucky Avery is and that travel with Jameson Hawthorne has become part of Avery’s new world.

The interviewer asks about Avery’s decision to give away ninety-four percent of the Hawthorne fortune through the Hannah the Same Backward as Forward Foundation. Avery explains that the foundation has become a massive collaborative effort, drawing experts, activists, survivors, medical professionals, incarcerated people, young organizers, and anyone with a strong proposal. Avery says the foundation’s purpose is to find the best ideas and act quickly because hoarding billions would only preserve too much power in one person’s hands.

The conversation turns to the Hawthorne brothers. Avery clarifies that Jameson, Grayson, Xander, and Nash are not spiraling but instead living freely for the first time, outside Tobias Hawthorne’s expectations. Grayson has left Harvard to work on giving away the money, Xander is working with Isaiah as a mechanic and inventor, Jameson keeps courting trouble through dares, and Nash is tending bar and tasting cupcakes while rumors link Nash to Libby.

Avery then shares Avery’s personal plans: more travel, a possible gap year or two, and eventually studying actuarial science at UConn so Avery can better understand risk and financial decision-making. When asked about extravagance, Avery rejects the expected luxuries and reveals the real reason for the interview.

Avery announces that Avery does not intend to keep growing Avery’s remaining fortune. After expenses and accounting each year, Avery will use the excess money for an annual contest inspired by Tobias Hawthorne’s Saturday games: elaborate puzzles, riddles, and challenges with life-changing prize money. With help from Jameson, the Hawthorne brothers, Alisa, Oren, Rebecca, and Thea, Avery has created the first of these contests, The Grandest Game, and Avery ends the interview by revealing that the game starts immediately.