In an Instant

Finn watches the emergency workers search for Vance, Chloe, and Oz, feeling despair when the search gets called off as another storm hits the area. When Ann learns the search is over until morning, she loses control and tries to leave the staging area. A paramedic sedates her and straps her into the ambulance before driving her to the hospital.

Finn moves to the hospital, where a doctor works on Mo’s frostbite. Mo remains silent as her body reacclimatizes. Suddenly, Mrs. Kaminski bursts into the room. Mo begins to tremble, and her mom comforts her and promises she’s okay. Mrs. Kaminski sings a lullaby, allowing Mo to fall asleep.

Jack has been in surgery for almost four hours. One doctor works on his chest while another works on his leg.

Finn returns to Burns to see the search plans for tomorrow. She’s surprised to see the Golds in a hospital room talking to Burns and notes that their injuries are less severe than everyone else’s. Burns updates Bob on the Millers, Mo, and the missing teens. He also asks Bob to speak to the press on the Millers’ behalf. Burns hopes that catching public interest will help support the search.

Burns turns to leave but stops and asks Bob why Oz would look for Ann alone. Bob lies, saying Oz’s disability makes him unreasonable. Bob then explains that Oz hit Karen, so he took the boy outside as a distraction. He says it was Oz’s idea to leave and that he wouldn’t listen to Bob’s protest. Bob then lies further and says the boy walked in the same direction Ann and Kyle walked. Burns leaves the room, and Bob gets ready for the press conference.

In Mo’s room, Finn hears her phone go off and realizes her friend must have taken her phone after the accident. She drifts to the table beside Mo’s bed and reads a text from Charlie. He’s asking what color dress she’s wearing to formal so he can get a matching tie. Finn feels guilty for feeling sorry for herself because there’s so much she wants to do and say but can’t.

At the press conference, Burns describes the accident before introducing Bob. Bob answers the reporters’ questions, again saying he tried to deter Oz from leaving the group. He also neglects to give Mo credit for blocking the windshield with snow or melting the snow for water. Before leaving the podium, Bob asks for support in the search. As he leaves, only Burns looks suspicious of Bob’s story.

Finn spends the night with Chloe, unable to stay with Oz as he cries for his dad. Chloe remains huddled at the tree’s base, and Finn knows her sister has given up. Finn passes the time talking to her sister, assuming Chloe can’t hear anything she says. Eventually, Finn hears voices and a dog barking. The rescuers reach Chloe, and one reports back to base that they found her.

Finn goes to Ann, wanting to be with her when she hears the rescuers found Chloe. Ann is back at the staging area and is holding Bob’s hand as they wait in an ambulance. Because of the press conference, over a hundred volunteers are combing the wilderness, with two helicopters searching from the air. Finn knows they likely won’t find Oz because he’s under a canopy of trees and the rescuers are looking in the wrong direction.

Burns tells Ann that the rescuers have found Chloe and that she’s on her way to the hospital where Jack is. He also tells Ann that Chloe has a serious concussion and severely frostbitten hands and feet. Ann asks about Vance, but Burns only shakes his head. He steps away from the ambulance and frowns at the snow beginning to fall.

Finn waits with Ann and Bob as another storm arrives. It’s now President’s Day. Ann asks Bob about Karen, hurt that her friend’s injuries are less severe than hers, yet Karen still hasn’t arrived or called. Bob tries to defend his wife, saying she’s not as strong as Ann. The ambulance driver then says a helicopter spotted Vance walking near a campground. However, the storm has grounded the helicopters. At noon, Burns arrives at the ambulance and tells Ann they found Bingo, but Oz is still out there.

The storm grows so intense that Burns calls off the search. Everyone involved knows this means Oz will likely die, if he is not dead already. Burns tells Ann, and she walks to a waiting car to return to Jack and Chloe. Finn forces herself to believe her mother’s lack of reaction to this news is out of resignation, not relief. Ann and Bob embrace before she leaves, making Finn question if there’s more between them than friendship.

Ann visits Chloe and is shocked by her appearance. Regardless, Ann is relieved and waits for her daughter to wake. Aubrey arrives that evening, and she and Ann embrace. They then sit together, and Aubrey tells Ann that Jack is in a medically induced coma to bring down his brain’s swelling. Ann already knows this and that doctors set his leg and removed his spleen. What they don’t know is the extent of his head trauma.

Finn goes to Mo’s room and watches as Karen enters. Mrs. Kaminski takes Karen into the hall, and Karen asks how Mo is doing. Karen looks almost normal with her hair and makeup done. Mrs. Kaminski studies her and asks if Natalie is hurt. Karen says no, so Mrs. Kaminski asks if Natalie’s fingers and toes are okay. Mo’s fingers and toes are black, signaling severe damage. Mrs. Kaminski then questions why her daughter’s toes are black but Natalie’s are not. She returns to Mo’s room, leaving Karen alone and shaking in the hall. Finn admires Mrs. Kaminski’s strength, realizing her friend’s mom is not the mild woman she appears to be.

Finn overhears Chloe’s doctors talking about how her sister is going to lose some fingers and toes and possibly her ears. Finn goes into Chloe’s room and sees her sister jerk suddenly and open her eyes before going unconscious again. Ann holds Chloe’s hand as she wakes again and writhes in pain. Aubrey gets a nurse, who sedates her sister.

Realizing that Chloe heard what Finn told her while waiting in the woods together, Finn goes to Oz and talks to him about each family member. She also tells him how strong and brave he is and that he saved their mom. Finn talks to him through the night until dawn arrives. Finally, Oz stops shivering, and he passes away peacefully.

A week after the accident, the survivors must now face their new reality and try to overcome their trauma. Ann, Mo, and Chloe fear sleep because they don’t want to remember the accident and its aftermath in their dreams. The Golds have returned to Orange County without suffering the same trauma as the Millers, Mo, and Vance. Ann blames herself for Chloe’s condition, and Chloe blames and hates her mom. Chloe refuses to speak and lies facing the window in her room, having lost three toes, the top of her pinky, and part of an earlobe. Ann remains by her side, silently watching her daughter. Mo suffers from losing so much so quickly, realizing her life isn’t perfect. She hates herself for momentarily being glad that Finn died, not herself, and for not going after Oz when she knew something was wrong.

Because the swelling in Jack’s brain has decreased, his doctors decide to wake him from his coma. Ann and Finn watch the process. As he regains consciousness, Jack calls out for Finn and Chloe. Ann comforts him, and he falls asleep. When he wakes up again moments later, Ann reassures him that Chloe is okay. A doctor then asks Jack several questions to assess his brain function. Pleased with Jack’s performance, the doctor then explains Jack’s prognosis. Jack only stares at Ann silently, feeling guilty for not having helped her after the accident. When the doctor leaves, Ann begins to sob. Jack motions to her, so she climbs into the hospital bed with him. They hold each other and sleep through the night.

Ten days after the accident, Aubrey is sitting in Chloe’s room. A psychiatrist enters and asks to speak to Aubrey in the hall. The woman asks Aubrey to describe Chloe, but Aubrey doesn’t know her sister well enough to help.

Jack and Ann wake the next morning, drawing away from the closeness they felt overnight. Jack asks where Oz is, but Ann can’t speak. Eventually, Ann explains that Oz followed her when she left to get help. Jack asks if she left him, his face filling with rage.

The Millers return home, and Finn notices that their house is so quiet it feels foreign. Jack and Chole enter the local hospital, so Ann goes home alone. She passes the mess the family created packing for the trip and takes a long shower. She then drinks three glasses of wine and curls up in bed. Finn’s funeral is tomorrow.