Macon is resigned to wearing a cast that consumes his entire leg. He has moved in with Rose and his brothers, Porter and Charles, for the time being, unable to care for himself in this state. Rose has always cared for others. Porter and Charles are divorced and living with her full-time. Rose is supported by their incomes while she maintains the house for them. It’s morning, and Rose helps Macon to the bathroom. The family sits down for breakfast and discusses what to do about Edward, who is waking Rose multiple times a night to use the restroom. Porter asks why Macon has Edward, to which Macon replies that Edward was Ethan’s. 

Macon studies a portrait his grandfather commissioned of them as kids and recalls his upbringing. His mother would jump wildly and enthusiastically between interests and between men. When she married an engineer, she sent the children off to live with their grandparents in Baltimore, where they stayed. Macon notices his mouth in the portrait reminds him of Ethan’s. 

After Porter and Charles have gone to work, Macon tells Rose that he enjoys how disconnected he feels from everyone else at her house.