Amanda returns to Appalachia following her intel-gathering mission in Cincinnati and brings back potentially devastating news about the Syndicate's plans, both for Appalachia and for her. But with this bad news comes a startling revelation about the very nature of the Syndicate and who is pulling its strings. Meanwhile, at Fort Atlas, Odessa, Knight Jenkins, and Knight Carlson meet to discuss what they've learned from Gralsburg's Deep Archive and how it relates to a figure from Carlson's past. Armed with a renewed sense of clarity, they undertake a radical new course of action to save Appalachia. At the Spider's Web, Beth meets a mysterious traveler who offers a sense of perspective that she'd been lacking since returning home.