The personified concept of Time, acting as a chorus, enters and flashes forward 16 years. Time mentions Leontes is still grieving. The setting is now Bohemia, home to Polixenes’s son Florizel and Leontes’s daughter Perdita, who has been raised as a shepherd’s daughter.

Camillo asks Polixenes to return to Sicilia, as Leontes has sent for him. Polixenes denies this request, as he does not want to think about Leontes. The two discuss Prince Florizel’s recent absence from court and his trips to a shepherd who suddenly became wealthy and has a beautiful daughter. Polixenes asks Camillo to accompany him to the shepherd’s house in disguise to figure out why Florizel is going there.

Autolycus, a rogue who was once in the service of Florizel, comes across the Clown who is preparing for his sister’s sheep-shearing feast. Autolycus fakes having been robbed and picks the Clown’s pocket.