Credence

Jake rationalizes his treatment of Tiernan to himself. Unless he makes her physically afraid of him, she will keep making wrong choices. He knows that his sons do not love Tiernan and could hurt her. At the same time, Jake cannot deny that slapping Tiernan made him sexually excited. Later, everyone goes out for shooting practice. He tells Tiernan that learning how to hunt an animal is essential for her survival in case she finds herself alone during the winter. Tiernan finally hits a deer but is unhappy that Jake forced her to make a kill. She and Jake argue and get into a physical fight. Jake kisses Tiernan and touches her aggressively. When he hears Noah, he asks Tiernan to get into the truck.

Jake asks Noah and Kaleb to head home as the hunt is over. He will stay back with Tiernan to teach her how to skin the deer. After the younger men leave, Jake starts to have sex with Tiernan. He pauses mid-way to ask her if she wants him to stop. Tiernan says that she wants Jake to make love to her. They have sex.

Jake and Tiernan return to the ranch. Jake asks Tiernan if she regrets having sex with him. Tiernan replies that she is glad that her first time was with Jake as he made sure that she felt pleasure. Jake’s guilt is somewhat alleviated. When Noah and Kaleb guess the reason why Jake stayed back with Tiernan, Noah lashes out against his father. Noah tells Jake that he and Kaleb also desire Tiernan. Unless Tiernan asks Noah to stop, he plans to pursue his attraction to her. Jake tells Noah to do the right thing and let Tiernan make her own choices.

Tiernan reflects that though having sex for the first time is not great for many people, it was for her. She joins Jake in the shower and they have sex. Tiernan feels comforted by Jake’s presence, knowing that he will not abandon her like her parents did. She tells Jake that he can pretend she is Flora, his first love, if he likes. Jake says that he never wants to pretend Tiernan is someone else. Tiernan belongs to him and his sons and they will always be her home. When Tiernan returns to her room, she finds an angry Kaleb waiting for her outside. He pushes her into her room, spits on her hair, violently writes a sexual slur on her forehead, and leaves. Tiernan feels humiliated and angry. Even though Kaleb has sex with women all the time, he has chosen to judge and degrade Tiernan for her sexuality.

Tiernan decides not to tell Jake about Kaleb’s behavior as she feels that treating Kaleb as if he does not exist is the best punishment. At the breakfast table, Noah tickles Tiernan and she laughs. Kaleb watches them silently and then slams his bowl against Tiernan’s glass of milk, spilling it in her lap. He then lobs wet oatmeal in her face with a fork. When Tiernan tells him that he is acting like a baby, he upends the table and walks out. Tiernan feels frightened but asks Jake and Noah not to intervene.

Tiernan heads to the stables to groom the horses, whom she loves. She finds Kaleb hacking at an animal carcass violently. Kaleb licks the animal blood on his fingers to terrify Tiernan and she walks away. Tiernan finds a room stuffed with old furniture next to the barn.

Jake tells Tiernan that the furniture is old pieces he and his ex-wife collected from yard sales. Tiernan has the beautiful, antique furniture brought into the house so that she can restore it. Noah helps her out and tells her not to take Kaleb’s actions personally. Like Jake, Kaleb does not trust women. Tiernan finds the excuse unoriginal. Noah asks Tiernan if she has sex with his father because hers did not love her. Tiernan should be offended at Noah’s words, but she is not, as she knows where he is coming from. Tiernan tells Noah that she would have continued with him and Kaleb the other day had Jake not stopped them. She wanted to lose herself in the moment. Noah tells Tiernan that he understands that she wants an escape from reality because her parents have left her empty, much like his have left him. Noah begins to touch Tiernan, asking her repeatedly to have sex with him. Tiernan desires Noah but leaves.

Tiernan is surprised when Kaleb joins her in designing a pattern for painting a wooden chest. Tiernan wonders if, like her, Kaleb loves to draw. She tells him that she used to make drawings of her house when she was a child and stick them up on the fridge, but her parents would throw the drawings away as they did not go with the décor. The painful memory makes Tiernan cry, and Kaleb embraces her. The hug is comforting and not sexual. Tiernan lets herself be lulled for a moment but them remembers Kaleb’s previous mistreatment of her. Reminding Kaleb of the slur he wrote on her forehead, she says that maybe a woman like her is good enough for him when he is desperate for affection. Kaleb walks away.

Jake leaves for a four-day trip to the Van der Bergs’s other cottage, which is closer to hunting and fishing grounds. Tiernan takes the opportunity to prepare her forms for college admissions. She misses Mirai’s advice when contemplating courses in politics and economics, since the Van der Bergs are completely apolitical and do not even vote. While doing laundry, she sees her underclothes missing. She is afraid that Kaleb may have stolen them and secretly searches his room. Kaleb’s room is filled with books and devoid of technological devices. Tiernan finds three scratches on the wooden floor of the room, as if a person clawed them. Afraid that this implies that Kaleb may have kept a woman captive here, Tiernan reminds herself to keep her distance from him. She doesn’t see her underwear anywhere but finds the red ribbon she wore on her first day at the ranch. She is partly happy that Kaleb thinks about her.

Tiernan wears the ribbon in her hair at dinner. Kaleb stares at her, aware that Tiernan went into his room. As Tiernan reads a book, Noah suggests that they watch another pornographic film together. When Tiernan refuses, he pulls her onto his lap. He tells her that he desires her and touches her aggressively. Noah says that Jake abused his authority with Tiernan. Tiernan only had sex with him because she was needy for affection. Sex with Noah will be better. Tiernan pushes Noah away and tells him that having sex with Jake was her conscious choice: Men have propositioned her before and she has said no; now, she is saying a firm no to Noah. Tiernan leaves the kitchen.

Noah wishes that Tiernan would stop rejecting him. He knows she wants him but is holding back. Noah hears a terrified cry from Tiernan’s room and rushes out. Kaleb comes towards Tiernan’s room, too. The brothers open the door and see Tiernan thrashing in a nightmare. Kaleb lies next to Tiernan and she settles down in sleep. It is obvious that Kaleb comes in often to calm Tiernan in her sleep. Noah recalls that Kaleb had similar nightmares when he was a child. Just then, Noah smells smoke and realizes that the barn is on fire. Kaleb and Noah rush to pull out the animals. Tiernan wakes up and goes to save the horses, and she gets a deep cut on her left arm in the process. Kaleb topples the water tower to put out the fire. He carries a bleeding Tiernan back into the house. Noah resents that Tiernan pays him no attention.