Emmett is still missing, and Sam grows increasingly worried about him. She goes to her Grandmother Smith’s house for dinner. Her grandparents comment on how much Hopewell has changed. Grandma dates it from the time Emmett flew the Viet Cong flag at the courthouse. Grandma and Granddad get into a fight about Emmett going to the war and eventually talk turns to Emmett having had the mumps. Grandma blames the mumps for Emmett’s inability to form a relationship with a woman.

Emmett fails to return. Sam talks to Dawn, who says that her boyfriend Ken is now talking about getting married, and Dawn sounds happier.

As Sam digs around the basement of the house looking for information about her father or for signs of where Emmett might have gone, Irene arrives with her baby and Emmett in tow. He managed somehow to get to Lexington after the veteran's dance.

Sam and Irene talk about the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Sam reports that “nobody got saved” in the movie (155). Sam thinks about Dawn having to take a baby with her everywhere, and the thought upsets her.

Emmett tells Sam that he was taken to Lexington by aliens, and Sam accuses him of never being able to tell a straight story.