Creation Lake

Sadie learns that Michel Thomas, a famous French novelist, will be appearing at the fair with Platon. Thomas is controversial because of his habit of making incendiary statements to the press and his friendship with controversial political figures like Platon. Sadie is sure that Thomas’s appearance at the fair is meant to be some kind of publicity stunt.

Sadie joins the Moulinards for an evening of drinking and song at the local bar. She still contemplates how best to proceed with her contacts’ plan. Happening to see a couple whom Pascal prevented from joining the Moulinards on her first day in Guyenne, Sadie heads over to talk to them. She learns that their names are Francoise and Denise and that they have been active in other extremist circles for years. She explains that dynamics are shifting on the commune and that despite their prior dismissal, their help might be needed. She tells them to wait to hear back from her.

Nadia overhears Sadie’s conversation with Francoise and Denise and asks what is going on. Sadie explains that there is an upcoming action at an agricultural fair and that the Moulinards might need extra help. Nadia scoffs, noting that any “extra help” will end up as cannon fodder.

The Moulinards begin to fall silent when Sadie enters a room. She wonders if this is because they are planning something large or because she is under suspicion. Pascal still seems comfortable with her, and he invites her along to visit Jean, one of the Moulinards’ mentors. They bring along Burdmoore, the only American Moulinard. Sadie shares the news that Platon will be at the fair. The men’s interest is piqued: Platon is a widely disliked public figure, and they instantly seem to get the idea to include him somehow in their planned action. Already, the area’s dairy union has agreed to dump thousands of liters of milk at the fair’s entrance, and the Moulinards plan to construct a human chain that would further block the roadway to the fair. There is some disagreement between Burdmoore and Pascal, and Burdmoore storms off. Sadie goes after him to help calm him down.

Burdmoore admits that he feels cultural distance between himself and the rest of the Moulinards, all of whom are European. He is frustrated with the recent equipment sabotage because no one admitted to it, and he feels that it put the commune at risk. Sadie asks if he would like to know the plan that is currently afoot, and he tells her that he does.

In an email, Bruno details his experiences during the period following World War II. He shares that he was an orphan on the streets of Paris and that he met Guy Debord during that time. They were all radical in their ideological orientation, and many of the young men in Bruno’s position stole and engaged in other petty crime to make ends meet. His social circle, and Debord in particular, rejected Bruno once he made the decision to go to college. After university, he’d taken a job in a reform school not unlike one in which he’d been confined as a teenager. There, he developed a commitment to non-violence. He castigates Pascal for his willingness to resort to violent acts to achieve his goals.

Sadie tells Burdmoore that a plan is afoot to charge the minister and injure him. Burdmoore wonders what this would really achieve, and Sadie explains that it will send a message that the Guyenne is autonomous, not interested in the French government or its representatives, and not open to industrialized agriculture. Burdmoore, who is (like many on the commune) fed up with Pascal and interested in personal glory, seems open to Sadie’s line of reasoning. He shares that he has a bad liver and not long to live.

It is evident to Sadie that there is widespread disagreement, both between the Moulinards and Bruno and between Bruno, Jean, and Pascal. Bruno’s anti-civilization position—that humans would do better in small, Neanderthal-like groups—strikes Jean, Pascal, and many of the Moulinards as naïve. The desire to change society, so dear to Pascal and the Moulinards, strikes Bruno as a waste of time.

While investigating the agricultural fair site’s surroundings, Sadie runs into a man who she is almost sure is Bruno. She asks him, and he denies it. She locates a place to stash her car, but the road is full of debris. She has to find someone to help her clear it.

Nadia warns Francoise and Denise that the planned action at the agricultural fair is a trap and that many people will be arrested, but they nonetheless agree to help Sadie remove the debris from the road at the site. She pays them handsomely for their efforts. She receives confirmation that the minister will still be at the fair. She hopes that Burdmoore will go through with his plan to attack the minister and that the Moulinards can thus be held responsible. This kind of entrapment is her specialty, and she thinks that she has laid a good enough trap.

Sadie’s contacts inform her that they would like the Moulinards to “neutralize” Platon. She realizes that this had been the plan all along and that she should have known that. Platon is a resoundingly reviled public figure, and the Moulinards are merely intended to provide a plausible cover story for his assassination. She asks for more money, and her contacts agree.

The next day, Sadie is sure that she is being followed. She confronts the man, and he tells her that she is paranoid. She is relieved. Pascal questions her about her knowledge of Platon’s movements. She explains that she used to walk his mistress’s dog. The woman knew that Sadie was in Guyenne and called her: Platon has a new mistress, and the old one wanted Sadie to scope her out. Pascal seems to believe her and expresses his desire for her and Lucien to move to the commune. She agrees.

Pascal believes in coincidences. Sadie does not.

Sadie does her best to convince Burdmoore to shoot Platon. She also manages to find the way to Bruno’s secret home. Rene’s girlfriend confronts her, but Sadie denies sleeping with Rene.

Rene shows up at the house and hits Sadie. She tells him that he needs to leave and that if he returns, she will stab him. He leaves. She checks Bruno’s email and finds that he has recently sent a message to the Moulinards.

Bruno is sure that the early hominids knew more about the stars than people currently believe. He posits that handprints in cave paintings are actually maps of constellations.

Sadie makes her way to Bruno’s property. She does not find him there, but she does run into his son. She explains that she is lost and names the house where she is staying, and he tells her how to get to where she is going.

Sadie learns that one of the people she’d entrapped while working for the FBI is now out of prison. She is publicizing her entrapment, and there is a public outcry. The FBI has come under fire for its surveillance of leftist organizations and its use of illegal methods to secure arrests. There is to be a civil suit against Sadie, whose identity apparently has been found out. Nervously, she swallows several Xanax and an Ambien with red wine. Tomorrow is the day of the action, so she has to be well rested.

Sadie oversleeps the next morning. She wakes up to text messages from Vito: Lucien is seeing someone else. She does not care. She hurries to get ready and heads to the site of the agricultural fair.

Sadie arrives at the fair. People are dancing to Guns N’ Roses, and the general mood is festive. Platon’s bodyguard gets distracted by two young women and follows them away, leaving Platon unguarded and alone. Burdmoore is late but eventually walks up to Sadie. She hands him a gun, and he balks. He tells her that she is crazy and obviously trying to stir up trouble and harm the Moulinards. Smirking, he pockets the gun and walks away.

The farmers begin pumping milk onto the fair’s entrance. The Moulinards form their chain, shouting that the Guyenne is not open to industrialized agriculture and that the water basin must not be built. Amid the chaos, another of the Moulinards arrives on a motorbike. He begins circling Platon. Platon panics and manages to escape but makes a fatal error in trying to hide in a nearby pile of logs. He loses his footing, and the entire pile falls on top of him, killing him.

Sadie flees. On the highway, she sees a sizeable law enforcement presence headed in the direction of the fair.

Because Platon died at the fair, Sadie’s contacts are satisfied and pay her a large sum of money. She buys a Mercedes and drives to Spain. She stays in a hotel that is empty in the off-season. She befriends one of the workers, and the woman agrees to tell Sadie if anyone asks about her. She reads the papers. The state is going after Pascal but not Bruno. There is no evidence that Bruno has been helping the Moulinards. The press treated Platon’s death with snickering derision. An unpopular man already, he was lambasted for perishing in such a bizarre accident. Sadie no longer wants to work as a spy. She gives up alcohol and the internet. She spends hours gazing up at the stars, thinking of Bruno’s emails and his words of wisdom about early hominids and what they knew about the heavens.