James purchases a ship at auction, but finding manacles and chains on board triggers visceral, nightmarish flashbacks related to the slave trade and his past traumas.

James encounters Zilpha at a concert, urging her to run away with him. Her refusal and the underlying tension between them suggest a dark, shared history that haunts both siblings.

The central conflict of the episode revolves around the reading of Horace Delaney’s will. While James is named the sole heir—inheriting the strategically vital Nootka Sound—the proceedings are derailed by the arrival of , an actress claiming to be Horace’s widow.