Cady remembers books of fairy tales her father gave her. She tells a fairy tale about a father with three beautiful daughters. He asks each daughter how much she loves him, and the two eldest respond in flattering ways. The youngest says she loves him as meat loves salt. He exiles her. She becomes a cook, and when her elder sisters are married, she is hired to cook the pig for the wedding feast. But she does so without salt. The king is puzzled, and she explains to him that she left out salt because he exiled his daughter for saying salt had value. He realizes she loved him all along and takes her back into his life. She wonders if she stays because she loves him or because she will inherit the kingdom.

Cady thinks about how her mother feels powerful by buying things. She herself starts to give things away. She gives away a pillow to a poor girl, a copy of Shakespeare's play King Lear, and a photo of Tipper with a piglet.

Cady tries to remember summer fifteen. She sees Mirren with a can of gasoline, her grandfather with a reflected fire on his face.