Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Five years after the Salt Lake City hospital, Ellie and Joel live in Jackson, where she trains for patrols and resents his protectiveness. A flashback introduces Abby and other surviving Fireflies: Abby wants to find Joel, but Owen urges the group to regroup in Seattle first. In the present, Joel struggles to explain his distance from Ellie to Gail, the town therapist. Gail tells him that she knows he killed her husband, Eugene, and urges him to speak honestly about what he is hiding.
During a patrol with Dina, Ellie fights a new infected that stalks them and moves silently. Back in town, she and Dina kiss at a New Year’s dance after Dina’s recent breakup with Jesse. Seth insults them, and Joel intervenes, escalating the scene and angering Ellie. Later, she sees him playing guitar on his porch but does not speak to him. Their relationship remains strained, while tendrils spreading beneath Jackson raise a danger within the settlement.
The episode’s opening and closing bookend Abby’s pursuit. After the dance, she and her companions reach the outskirts of Jackson and watch the settlement from a distance. They watch from a distance, preparing to find the man Abby has pursued for years. In therapy, Joel struggles to describe his relationship with Ellie and finally says that he saved her.