Peter wakes in his mother Christine's spare room in Skerries with a pounding headache, his phone dead, and no one home. Disoriented and exhausted after the previous night's violence with Ivan, he reflects on feeling unwelcome everywhere. He leaves by late morning and boards a train back to Dublin. On the train, Peter spirals into suicidal ideation, thinking of Sylvia's rejection, his failure with Naomi, and the damage he has done to Ivan. He imagines painless methods and feels a deep, seductive calm at the thought of ending everything, believing he has already apologized to everyone who matters.

Arriving at his flat drenched and half-delirious, Peter discovers both Sylvia and Naomi inside—they had teamed up to find him after he went unreachable. He collapses in a faint from shock, dehydration, and hunger. The two women care for him, making tea and biscuits, bantering with surprising ease. Naomi explains that Ivan's note led her to try reaching Peter, and when she couldn't, she contacted Sylvia, who had a spare key. Their unexpected alliance both embarrasses and comforts Peter.

That evening, Naomi confronts Peter about his tendency to compartmentalize people and control relationships like a child arranging toys. They acknowledge mutual manipulation and genuine feelings. Naomi tells Peter she loves him; he says the same. She stays the night. The next day, Peter meets Sylvia for a walk in Stephen's Green, where they discuss literary modernism and then have a raw, honest conversation. Sylvia admits she was jealous and dishonest—she never truly wanted Peter to move on. Peter confesses he cannot live pretending they are just friends. Sylvia tentatively suggests an arrangement among the three of them. Peter, overwhelmed, breaks down, but Sylvia reassures him, and they forgive each other fully. He clings to her, and she touches his face, reconnecting him with himself and his reasons to live.

In the days that follow, Peter begins a fragile new life balancing both relationships. Naomi stays at his flat; he visits Sylvia for dinners and walks. He wrestles with the social and philosophical implications of their unconventional arrangement—the fear of judgment, the complexity of naming what they are—but finds genuine happiness in both connections. He reflects on Wittgenstein's language games and the impossibility of fitting their situation into conventional categories.

On a Friday evening, Peter learns from Christine that Ivan is about to secure his second IM norm at a chess tournament in Dublin. He walks to Clancy's Hotel, intending only to congratulate Ivan quietly. Outside the tournament room, he encounters Margaret, Ivan's girlfriend, who is also waiting. They share a warm, nervous, deeply moving conversation, each aware of the family tensions but reaching toward goodwill. When Ivan's game ends in victory, Margaret goes inside and sends Ivan out. Peter, overcome with emotion, embraces his brother, tells him their father would be proud, and they reconcile. Ivan invites Peter—and whoever he'd like to bring—to spend Christmas together at the Kildare house with Margaret. Peter accepts, moved to tears. Walking away along the river, Peter feels grief, gratitude, and fragile hope, resolving to go on living.