In Sicilia, Leontes’s men beg him to forgive himself for his wrongs, but he is unable to. His men want him to remarry, but Paulina thinks no one compares to Hermione and that they should follow Apollo’s prophecy; Leontes is to have no heir until his daughter is found. He has come to trust Paulina and refuses to remarry until she gives him permission. Florizel and Perdita are announced as Polixenes’s diplomats, and Leontes is happy to welcome them, seeing his own children in them. Florizel claims Polixenes sent him to make amends, and Leontes again feels the misery his jealousy caused. A lord enters and tells him that Polixenes has arrived in Sicilia and demands he detain his son and Perdita, whom Florizel claims is the daughter of another king. Florizel begs Leontes to advocate for him, and Leontes agrees.

Outside of Leontes’s palace, Autolycus speaks to three noblemen who deliver the news of the play’s climax. The Old Shepherd told Polixenes and Camillo of Perdita’s true origins, and the men, shocked, knew she must be Sicilia’s princess. This is confirmed by Paulina, who recognizes many of the objects left with Perdita as those of her late husband, Antigonus.