Wild begins concocting plans to manufacture the strength gravel on his own. With his underlings Hell-and-Fury, Fireblood, Henry Davis, and Daniel Flanders, he schemes to steal the body of an executed criminal. Wild orders Flanders and Fireblood to steal a body. Wild plans to incriminate them once they fetch him the body so that there isn’t a trail leading to him.

Bess is heartbroken after Jack stormed off. She views Jack’s reaction as narrow-minded and selfish, sacrificing the rest of the city for his chance at acquiring more strength gravel. She spends the evening drunk with Jenny. Reading a broadside, Bess learns that the city government is looking for women to hire as plague searchers tasked with investigating homes and ships suspected of containing the plague. Bess hatches a scheme to get aboard the Poor Maria by enlisting Jenny as a plague searcher.

With nowhere to go, Jack looks for Aurie in a hidden section of the Thames beach. He finds Aurie in a shipwreck that is used as an impromptu community gathering spot for mollies. Without Bess, Jack struggles to remember his name; the two are so intertwined that Bess is part of his identity as Jack. Aurie and Jack watch as an execution train passes over a nearby bridge.