Ten months later, a heavily pregnant food delivery woman endures gossip as she works. Sean Lowe, a Havord professor, says eldest brother Henry kept the family after their parents died; Ben is a soldier. The duty to continue the family's direct line and inherit falls on Sean, though he fell for someone he shouldn't. A master predicted destiny would arrive on the first snowy day. On that day the woman's water breaks; a man cries, "I'm a dad now?" People scramble, promise to take her to the hospital, and rush into the snow, leaving the birth's consequences for Sean unresolved.