In the ear­ly hours along the Michi­gan coast, the nar­ra­tor nav­i­gates their ves­sel with a child named Sol, who sleeps sound­ly in the con­fines of a for­ward bunk. The nar­ra­tor recalls the warmth and weight of her small frame, strug­gling to adjust to the respon­si­bil­i­ty of car­ry­ing her. After anchor­ing in a calm spot called Mis­ery Bay, they pre­pare cof­fee in the gal­ley while con­tem­plat­ing their jour­ney ahead, par­tic­u­lar­ly towards a canal lead­ing to Red­field and a fig­ure named Griff. An uneasi­ness lingers as the nar­ra­tor con­sid­ers deliv­er­ing Sol to this indi­vid­ual, whose details remain elu­sive.

As the morn­ing unfolds, they are con­front­ed by a grotesque sight—a bloat­ed corpse float­ing near­by. Despite the grim dis­cov­ery, Sol’s reac­tion is sur­pris­ing­ly non­cha­lant; she iden­ti­fies the body as an “uncle” lost to the lake, reveal­ing her past of famil­ial loss­es. The nar­ra­tor’s desire to shield Sol from hor­ror is futile, as she instinc­tive­ly swims towards the body, insist­ing they must give it prop­er bur­ial. This leads them to work togeth­er to drag it ashore and bury it, an expe­ri­ence that trans­forms into an act of respect and solem­ni­ty.

With the sun high, they final­ly set sail towards Red­field, using the canal that promis­es to short­en their voy­age. The nar­ra­tor reads from Folsum’s Anchor­ages, detail­ing the region’s charm, but Sol dis­miss­es it as ridicu­lous. Ten­sion mounts as a storm approach­es, and they race against time to nav­i­gate the rough waters toward safe­ty. Even­tu­al­ly, they locate the canal entrance, a less impres­sive gap in the shore­line than they expect­ed but a gate­way to their future.

As they anchor with­in the canal, the atmos­phere shifts, exud­ing a sense of tran­quil­i­ty. Sol iden­ti­fies a kite over­head, incit­ing fear as she per­ceives it as a watch­ful pres­ence. The nar­ra­tor reas­sures her, asso­ci­at­ing the kite with hope—a reward for their suc­cess­ful bur­ial and escape from Richard’s clutch­es. Enjoy­ing veg­etable soup in the cock­pit amidst the antic­i­pa­tion of an impend­ing storm, they feel a mix of com­fort and resolve, pre­pared to face what­ev­er chal­lenges lie ahead.