In the spring of 1945, just as the war in Europe ends, the Bradshaws celebrate the news that Caroline has been accepted to the Juilliard School of Music in New York on a full scholarship. Louise’s success on her high school graduation exams—she scores higher than anyone from Rass Island ever has—predictably takes second place. The end of the war also means that Call will soon be returning to the island. She begins putting lotion on her hands again.

Grandma becomes more disconnected from reality, obsessed with religious damnation, and verbally abusive to Susan. Both parents try their best to ignore the increasingly extreme behavior. After the news of the bomb in Hiroshima, Grandma is distracted by thoughts of Armageddon.

Truitt asks Louise what she plans to do next. Louise fears he is trying to get rid of her, and does not have an answer. Call returns and reveals that he has asked Caroline to marry him and she said yes. He plans to move to New York and go to college on the GI Bill while Caroline attends Juilliard. Once again abandoned, Louise escapes the conversation and returns to her work in the crab house.