Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Soos repairs the laptop recovered from the bunker, but Dipper cannot get past its password. Mabel promises to help until she meets Gabe, a puppeteer whose attention she hopes to win with an elaborate sock-puppet musical. Dipper loses sleep trying passwords while she puts more time into the show. Bill Cipher appears in his dreams, offering help in exchange for a favor. When the laptop threatens to erase its contents after another failed attempt, Dipper accepts a bargain for one puppet. Bill takes Dipper's body as his puppet, leaving him as a disembodied spirit, then destroys the computer and searches for the journal.
Dipper discovers that Mabel has borrowed the journal as a stage prop, placing it directly in Bill's path. He manages to inhabit a sock puppet and warn her during the performance. Bill threatens to ruin the show unless she gives up the book, counting on her desire to impress Gabe. Mabel recognizes how much Dipper has sacrificed for her and chooses him over the production. She fights Bill using her knowledge of her brother's physical weaknesses, wearing out a body already exhausted by missed sleep. Bill leaves when it fails him, and Dipper returns to himself. Gabe rejects the ruined show, but Mabel apologizes for neglecting her brother. They leave together with the journal safe and the laptop broken.