Tom Lake

The next morning, Cat told Lara that after the show, Sebastian had gone to the greenroom and confronted Duke. They fought—Sebastian punched Duke. Pallace was so drunk she wasn’t aware of anything. Duke went to the hospital for stitches. Cat felt badly for Pallace, who was so clearly out of her depth.

In the present, Lara tells her daughters that Duke ghosted her—to use modern slang. They are outraged on her behalf. She agrees that they can tell Emily this, but she will not speak of it again. Nell asks how Lara left Tom Lake, and she promises to tell them later—they won’t like that story. However, Lara reflects that if things hadn’t gone the way they had, she might not ever have known that Joe and the cherry orchard were what she wanted.

When Lara joins her daughters again, Maisie and Nell have told Emily what happened. Emily is outraged, but Maisie says if Lara had told her, Emily would have sided with Duke. When they ask again how Lara left, Nell guesses, correctly, that Ripley picked her up after Duke called and told him to come get her.

Lara’s story resumes. The day after the opening, Lara stayed in bed, drinking. Ripley showed up at her door. Duke wanted her gone, and Ripley needed her in California. He felt an obligation to look out for her, but she, in turn, had an obligation to her movie. Lara realized that Duke actually called Ripley to see the play. That night, Ripley went to watch while Lara packed.

In the morning, on the way to the airport, they talked about Duke, with whom Ripley now wanted to work. Lara thought about calling Joe from the airport, but didn’t. In LA, she stayed with Ripley and prepared for the movie publicity. Lara was good in the movie, but felt like she was watching a stranger on the screen. Her interviews and the movie were a huge success, but Lara didn’t change her mind about being finished with acting. Afterward, Lara went home to New Hampshire.

In the present, Nell asks if Lara regrets leaving acting. Nell has a hard time with the fact that Lara had the success Nell longs for and happily gave it up. When Duke got nominated for his first Emmy, Lara watched it on television with her cousin. Her daughters convince her to fill in the gap between the end of Lara’s story and when she and Joe got together.

Lara’s story resumes. Lara stayed in New Hampshire until her grandmother Nell died. Growing up, she had spent most of her time with her grandmother; her acting career began when she read aloud while Nell sewed. When Lara had played Emily for the first time, Nell had helped her learn her lines, commenting that she and Emily were the same, supporting and encouraging Lara, and never making her feel guilty for leaving. When Lara returned, she moved into her grandmother’s house and took over the alterations business. As time passed, Lara wondered about Duke, Pallace, and Sebastian. Nell had breast cancer, and Lara cared for her until her death. After Nell died, Lara got a job with a costumer in New York. One day, she and Joe saw each other in a theater.

Joe pulls up where Lara and the girls are picking in the orchard. He tells them that when he saw Lara again in New York, he fell in love immediately. They feel lucky to have found each other again, and Lara thinks about how narrowly she missed her current life.

Lara’s story resumes. The next summer, they visited Maisie and Ken in Michigan and slept in the house where Emily and Benny live now. When Maisie and Ken retired to Arizona, Joe bought them out. After Ken died, Maisie spent summers with them in Michigan. The girls reflect on the fact that if they hadn’t asked to hear about Duke, they never would have heard the rest of the story, the real story. Then Lara reveals that she saw Duke one more time.

In 1997, Lara was pregnant with Nell, Emily was four, and Maisie was two. Duke knocked on the door. He was shocked to see her there—he did not remember that he had first come to the orchard with Lara. He asked about Maisie and Ken, and was confused when she told him she’d married their nephew. Duke was trying to buy the orchard. Lara asked about Sebastian and Duke smiled, remembering that summer. Sebastian worked at his production company now. Duke asked to walk to the cemetery, and carried Emily. When he saw Joe, Duke understood that Lara’s husband was Joe Nelson. Joe only told Lara years later how shocked he was to see Duke holding Emily.

In the present, the girls are stunned, especially Emily. Lara wonders if she did the right thing, telling Emily about meeting Duke when she was a baby. If Emily had known the story when she was younger, she would’ve blamed Lara for not letting her go with Duke. Emily does have quasi-memories of the incident, but only in the suggestible way she also “remembers” many of the people and events Lara has told them about.

They wish Duke had waited the pandemic out safely, but Maisie points out that if Duke hadn’t drowned, they never would’ve known the true story. Maisie has never been sure of Emily’s paternity until now. Lara is surprised by this. Nell is, too, pointing out the similarities between Joe and Emily.

Emily asks if there is anything else they should know, but Lara doesn’t want to talk about it anymore. The night that Duke died, Maisie heard the news out on a veterinary call. They were worried about telling Emily. Lara, however, realizes now that by telling the story, she has given Emily the ability to move on.

Lara doesn’t tell her daughters that she saw Duke one more time. When she lived in New York, Duke called her from a residential facility in Boston, asking her to visit. There, she was on the visitor list under the name “Emily Webb”—the character from Our Town. Duke came over, kissed her, and told her that she had been mesmerizing in her movie, and that his marriage was finished.

He told her to meet him in the bathroom, and she agreed although she wanted to leave. They had sex. Afterward, walking across the lawn, Lara saw Sebastian sitting on a bench. He visited every day. They went to get a drink; Sebastian told her that he hadn’t gone back to Tom Lake and never saw Pallace again. Once Duke got into television, his substance use disorder quickly became a problem. Lara and Sebastian realized that they could take their relationship further, but decided not to. Six weeks later, Lara realized she was pregnant. She had an abortion and never told anyone.

In the present, the picking of the sweet cherries is almost over, and the shaking of the tart cherry trees has begun. There is an overlap, and so the family, and the few workers who came that year, are busier than ever. By August, all of the cherries are harvested. They spend the day at the lake, celebrating, before the pruning begins. The apple harvest is coming soon, and there is Emily and Benny’s wedding to think about.

One day, Maisie brings a tall man out into the fields, and Lara recognizes Sebastian. Her daughters go to find Joe, leaving Lara and Sebastian alone together. She wanted to get in touch after Duke’s death, but didn’t know how to find him. He tells her that Duke had tried to buy the orchard from Maisie and Ken, and she tells him about Duke’s visit when the girls were young. Eventually, Maisie and Ken had agreed to sell Duke a plot in the family cemetery.

That night, Joe asks Lara if she was ever in love with Sebastian, whom the girls have convinced to stay overnight. She says she’s ever only been in love with Joe. After he falls asleep, she thinks about Duke, in Capri, swimming away from the boat.

The next day, they bury Duke’s ashes in the family cemetery. After a moment of silence, they talk about Emily and Benny’s wedding. Lara remembers her own wedding on the farm, remembers Uncle Wallace, and realizes that it is right that Duke is buried there—that there is room for him in their lives. She decides to tell Sebastian that he can be buried there too, to be near his brother and her family.