Ivan drives through Kildare on Sunday evening, returning to his late father's house with a pizza and his dog Alexei. Two days earlier, on Friday, he had visited the house to pick up the car and found it cold, dusty, and desolate—a dead person's house. He went around testing lights, taps, and radiators to dispel the feeling, then drove back to Dublin for the dog before heading to Leitrim to see Margaret.

At Margaret's cottage on Friday night, they shared a warm reunion. She cooked dinner, and they talked about the local gossip surrounding their relationship. Ivan felt a fierce, protective love for her. At bedtime, Margaret asked about his upcoming chess tournament and mentioned she would be in Dublin that Friday for work. Ivan, excited, imagined her watching him play and kissing her publicly afterward. Margaret didn't definitively refuse to attend.

Now arriving at the Kildare house on Sunday, Ivan notices an upstairs light on and discovers a young woman inside: Naomi, who introduces herself as a friend of Peter's. She explains Peter offered her the house after she was evicted, and that Peter tried to reach Ivan but couldn't. Ivan is disoriented but invites her to share his pizza. Over the meal, Naomi reveals she and Peter were actually in a relationship for nearly a year—recently ended—and that Peter never told Ivan about her. She asks about Sylvia, and Ivan shows her a family photo album, pointing out Sylvia and a group photo from Peter's graduation that includes their late father.

Naomi's questions and observations unsettle Ivan. She reveals Peter has been struggling mentally since their father's death, drinking too much, and saying worrying things. She tells Ivan that Peter really loves him. Ivan snaps at her, calling her a random stranger with no right to comment on his family, then retreats upstairs, asking her not to tell Peter he's there.

Alone in his room with Alexei, Ivan is flooded with memories: Peter teaching him chess, defending him as a child, bringing Sylvia home, the happy Christmases together. Then the accident changed everything—Peter became withdrawn, barely functional, crying alone at night. Ivan recalls the pivotal moment when, as a teenager, he found Peter weeping in the kitchen at 3 a.m., saying he was scared and had no one to talk to, and Ivan simply turned around and went back to bed. Their relationship deteriorated into mutual hostility, jealousy, and estrangement. Ivan now recognizes that Naomi's warnings about Peter's mental state, combined with Peter's erratic behavior at the dinner and his secret relationship, point to something genuinely wrong. Unable to process it all, Ivan opens his phone and begins playing chess.