In the earlier timeline, Frank’s obsession turns from the store to baseball; he starts focusing his efforts at the store around the game and funding the uniforms and equipment for their baseball team. Maud worries that he’s losing focus, but she appreciates his shift away from her and her condition. She is pregnant and worries about giving birth, about whether Frank will remarry if she dies, and what will become of the family without her.

Meanwhile, a drought hits Dakota and the previous years of bumper crops in wheat are matched by the deficit this year. Fields wither and the farmers worry about how they’ll all make it through. Maud worries about Julia and Magdalena and writes again to offer Magdalena a home with them. Julia again refuses, this time citing Maud’s pregnancy as the reason for keeping her daughter.

In the earlier timeline, Maud’s mother arrives in the new state of South Dakota to help her daughter through the end of her pregnancy and the beginning of her new baby’s life. She comes equipped with science and faith, ready to do whatever she can to keep Maud alive. When Maud confesses that she still worries about Julia, her mother brushes the topic off, saying Julia doesn’t have their strength.