The Lost Man

Nathan is playing guitar on the porch when Ilse comes out with a beer for each of them. The light is on in the backpacker’s trailer, and Ilse says she thinks Katy is pregnant. Nathan confirms that she is, and Cam is the father. Nathan brings up the card Xander found and asks what Cam was asking forgiveness for. Ilse says he did several things that needed forgiveness.

Nathan tells her Steve believes Cam assaulted Jenna. Ilse confesses that she was trying to leave Cam before he died. Nathan assumes it is because of Katy, but Ilse indicates that there was more. She talks about their past and wonders what might have been if she hadn’t married Cam. Nathan apologizes for isolating himself, admitting that he ruined their chance. They kiss.

Nathan and Ilse have sex in the back of Nathan’s truck. They stay there until just before dawn. Ilse tells him that she thinks Sophie’s injury came from Cam. They were alone in the stables that day, and Cam was in a bad mood. Nathan remembers his father’s abusiveness and is saddened that history is repeating itself.

He sees scars on her body, and she confirms they came from Cam. He is surprised that no one noticed, and she admits that Harry might know. She told Liz, but Liz became annoyed and told her not to cause trouble. By the time she was prepared to leave Cam, he had arranged it so that nothing was in her name, and she had no money. She thinks he sabotaged her car so that she couldn’t get away.

She reveals that she has been saving money and packing her daughters’ possessions. She buried whatever she collected at the stockman’s grave, thinking it was the safest place. Nathan tells her that the authorities didn’t find anything when they examined the site after Cam’s death. She says she doesn’t know what happened to the money and documents.

Nathan wakes up Xander, who notices that Nathan seems happier. Xander says that he thinks Cam hurt Sophie. Nathan confirms his suspicions, and Xander is troubled by this information about his uncle. Nathan apologizes again for turning his radio off and says he’s going to talk to Steve.

Nathan calls Jacqui and apologizes for what happened with Keith and for their failed marriage. Both Jacqui and Xander are surprised by the call. Sophie goes to get Katy and Simon for breakfast, but their car is gone. Simon emerges from the trailer, and they realize Katy took the car and left.

Nathan tells Harry that Cam sabotaged Ilse’s car. Harry says that’s what he thought. He says he also suspected of Cam’s affairs and abuse. Unlike Carl, Cam was good at hiding it, so he had never been sure. Nathan asks why he didn’t call the police, and Harry counters by asking why none of them had called the police about Carl. When Nathan brings up Jenna, Harry cuts him off, claiming some things are better left in the past. 

Nathan searches Cam’s car for Ilse’s documents and money but doesn’t find anything. Bub comes out and apologizes for their fight and Kelly’s death. Cam said he told Nathan about it, but he didn’t. Nathan apologizes for not protecting Bub from Carl, and Bub shares how desperate he is to get away from the farm. Everyone expects Nathan to take charge, but Bub doesn’t want to work under another brother. He wants Ilse to buy him out so that he can leave.

Nathan is teaching Sophie guitar on the porch, and Lo is drawing nearby. Everyone seems lighter after the funeral. Xander gives Nathan a list of dates they can see each other. Nathan agrees to visit him in Brisbane, and Xander goes inside to pack.

Lo is painting the stockman’s grave. Nathan tells the girls the real story of the stockman, which he researched in Brisbane. The man was out with his family when a dust storm descended. He sent his wife and young son home and went looking for his older son. When he found him, his son’s horse had run away, so he gave his son his horse and sent him home, knowing that he would die in the storm.

Nathan goes into the living room and, feeling like a criminal, takes Cam’s painting down and brings it out to the porch. Sophie and Lo are gleefully shocked by his daring. They judge Cam’s and Lo’s paintings side by side and decide they like Lo’s better. Nathan sees a plastic envelope on the back of the painting and sends the girls inside. Inside the envelope, he finds Ilse’s documents. Someone comes onto the porch.

Nathan turns to see Liz standing behind him, gazing at the envelope. She reveals that she exercised Sophie's horse on the day Cam died, trying to figure out why it threw her. She concluded that nothing was wrong with the horse and began to suspect that Cam hurt his daughter. She rode to the stockman’s grave and found Cam there. He was digging and found the envelope. She knew what it was because she had done something similar when Carl was alive. She told him to leave it. The look he gave her and his stance reminded her of Carl, and she knew her suspicions were true.

She knew what he would do to Ilse when he got home, and without even thinking, she got into his car and drove away, her horse following behind. He chased her, knowing this meant death, but she didn’t slow until he disappeared from her rearview mirror.

When Nathan says he thought Jenna was responsible, Liz shows him a letter in which Jenna forgives Cam. Liz says she left her own abusive home when she was 18. She thought things would be different with Carl, but over time he became abusive. She wanted to leave but was too scared and alone. She apologizes to Nathan for not standing up to Carl and says that the car accident that killed him saved their lives. Nathan wonders if she waited until Carl was dead before she called for an ambulance the night of the crash.

Ilse comes out to tell Nathan Glenn is on the phone. Liz goes inside, and Ilse and Nathan return to the house holding hands. She offers to stay with him for a few days and help him prepare his farm for the floods. She says she is happier now than she has been in a long time, and they both see possibilities for their future. On the phone, Glenn tells Nathan that Jenna is confirmed to be in Bali. Nathan starts to tell him about Liz, but then stops. He hangs up the phone and goes outside to join his family.