Moloka'i

A group of visiting dignitaries, including now Governor Judd, visit Kalaupapa, assessing the condition of the settlement. Judd gives a speech where he outlines the improvements that the government has made and those planned for the future, including sewer lines, garbage trucks, and fire hydrants. Judd inaugurates the new power station, which supplies electricity to every building and house in Kalaupapa.

Rachel drives to Kalawao where she tends to Haleola’s and Keo’s graves and meets Hokea, who paints. At the doctor’s, Rachel supplies another skin sample for testing, getting closer to temporary release. Rachel and Kenji meet David Kamakau, a new arrival, who also attended St. Louis College. He and Kenji discuss economics, news, and politics, and Rachel feels inferior in light of their knowledge.

The new doctor visits Kenji at his store, and he tells Kenji that Rachel’s skin came back positive, but his did not, so Kenji qualifies for temporary release. He turns down temporary release, later telling Rachel that they both tested positive.

An American sailor, Gabriel Tyler Crossen, arrives at Kalaupapa, sick and angry that he has been exiled. He moves next door to Kenji and Rachel, getting his own residence. While they exchange pleasantries, Crossen remains cold, only coming to the store for cigarettes and beer. Brady, a fellow American from California, tries to justify Crossen’s cold demeanor, explaining that he blames a Chinese prostitute for his leprosy. News of the attack on Pearl Harbor reaches Kalaupapa, and the residents follow the government’s directive that night, eating and living in darkness, while the authorities activate martial law.

The government begins to route more children with leprosy to Kalaupapa, after years of keeping children at Kalihi. The residents shower the children with attention, and Rachel explains the legends and gods of Hawai’i after they ask if she has comic books.

Crossen’s mood continues to worsen after Pearl Harbor and Felicia, his girlfriend, bears the brunt of his anger, as he becomes drunk and physically assaults her. Kenji and Rachel hear screams and noises and call the cops. They arrest him for various offenses, including drunkenness, and, after he returns home, he continues to drink, only with more discretion.

After hearing Felicia scream again, Kenji goes to Crossen’s house and defends Felicia, attacking Crossen. Crossen begins to beat Kenji, until Rachel intervenes. Seeing Rachel hurt by Crossen enrages Kenji who defends his wife. Crossen beats Kenji until he falls on a door jamb, killing him.

Rachel holds a wake for Kenji at the one-room Buddhist temple in Kalaupapa, and the attendees fill the room. Mourners share their memories of Kenji, before Rachel speaks to the crowd. She touches Kenji’s fingers in the casket, and she kisses him, before his casket is lowered into the ground.

Leaving the funeral, she heads to Papaola Beach, joined by Catherine. While Rachel tries to get Catherine to leave, she stays, and they discuss grief. Catherine offers to stay with Rachel, and Rachel refuses her—a decision she regrets when she’s alone in her house with only memories of Kenji. The next morning, she walks next door to Crossen’s house, and she cleans the signs of Kenji’s murder, including the glass and the blood from Kenji and Felicia.

Crossen stands trial for Kenji’s murder, and, because martial law remains in effect, the trial takes the form of a court martial. Rachel testifies and faces a hostile cross examination. Rachel worries Crossen will not face justice, but he receives a sentence of thirty-five years. Kalaupapa doesn’t have a suitable prison, so Crossen remains at Bay View Home, which Rachel then studiously avoids.

Rachel’s symptoms worsen, and her leprosy begins to manifest in tumors on her skin and her nose. A tsunami strikes Hawai’i in April 1946 and the damage to Kalaupapa is extensive; the lighthouse survives the onslaught and the rest of Moloka’i escapes the damage other islands face.

After the tsunami, Rachel is prescribed a new sulfa antibiotic that reverses the recent progress of her disease, returning her face to its previous state. She welcomes Judd back to the island, who notes their progress with leprosy, regretting some of the measures the government took isolating the residents over the decades. Rachel receives parole, and, before she flies to O’ahu, she visits Crossen and tells him he will spend his life in prison, even if his leprosy improves. His body is later found floating in the water, and only two people, including the priest, attend his funeral.

Rachel flies to Honolulu, shocked by the changes to her birthplace. Her childhood home no longer stands, and much of the natural features of the city no longer remain. She gets lost trying to find the beach, taking a bus then a trolley, before she asks for directions. Walking to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Rachel rents the cheapest room, for a price Rachel still finds expensive. At the luxury hotel, she gets ready for dinner, going to the Monarch Room, where she orders two main dishes and three vegetables. Although she knows she overordered, Rachel admits that it’s the best meal she’s ever had.

Recognizing that she cannot afford the hotel for too long, she searches for an apartment, but her lack of rental history and her leprosy make finding one almost impossible. She finds an overpriced one-room apartment to rent and pays three months in advance. Going to the grocery store, Rachel becomes overwhelmed by the number of options.

Over the next few days, Rachel orders her sister’s wedding certificate to discover her new last name and makes an appointment to petition a judge to open Ruth’s adoption records. She tracks down her father’s sister Florence, and her aunt recognizes Rachel when she visits. She asks Rachel to leave, worried about the shame of having a relative with leprosy, which she had experienced decades before. Rachel gets Sarah’s marriage certificate in the mail and musters the courage to call her. Hanging up when Sarah answers, Rachel decides to visit her in Maui. After a flight there and an expensive taxi ride, Rachel sees Sarah for the first time in decades. Shocked and ecstatic to see her sister alive, Sarah invites Rachel in and tells her what has happened to their brothers and mother. According to Sarah, Kimo never sold shoes; he developed symptoms of leprosy. Dorothy sent Ben and Sarah to live with relatives on Maui and she moved near Kula with Kimo, hiding him for a year until he died. She buried him in the jungle. Sarah shows Rachel their mother’s grave.

Sarah and Rachel shop together during their visit, going to Lahaina, which reminds Rachel of the Honolulu of her memories. Rachel tries to point out landmarks of Hawaii’s legendary past, but Sarah’s devout faith makes her resistant to Rachel’s story. Rachel remains on Maui for ten days, visiting Sarah, until Sarah invites her to stay permanently. Rachel considers it and asks Sarah to take her to Kula, where they find Kimo’s grave, marked by a cross with his Hawaiian, rather than Christian name.

At the hearing to unseal Ruth’s adoption records, Rachel answers the judge’s questions, and, while she waits for an answer, she looks for work. Rachel gets a job at a gift shop as a cashier and works a few weeks until a customer seemingly notices her right hand and its signs of leprosy. She loses her job soon after. After she’s notified that the judge will rule on her request, Rachel comes to the court on the appointed date, her petition is granted and she gains access to the records. Rachel asks around Honolulu before asking for Catherine’s help, who writes to another nun. Finally, Rachel receives a letter from Ruth’s adopted father addressed to Sister Mary Louisa that includes Ruth’s childhood address in California. She writes several drafts of a letter before finally drafting a complete letter.

Ruth calls Rachel in August, and they talk briefly. Shocked at the news that her mother has leprosy, Ruth asks for time to consider Rachel’s request to meet. Ruth calls back days later, and apologizes, as they make plans to meet. Rachel flies to San Francisco, and Ruth meets Rachel at her hotel. They catch up, and Rachel meets Ruth’s husband and her children Donald and Peggy. Ruth eventually shares that her family was sent to a Japanese concentration camp, and they lost all their possessions and property. Still angry from her imprisonment, Ruth discusses the death of her father in a maximum-security facility, and Rachel cries. Returning to Honolulu, having met Ruth’s family and forged a connection with her, Rachel moves in with her sister.

Ruth and Peggy fly to Moloka’i to attend Rachel’s funeral. After they land, they meet Hokea, who shows them around. He takes them to his house, where he’s storing Rachel’s possessions. Ruth and Hokea discuss Rachel’s decision to return to Moloka’i as she got sick recently. At Hokea’s house, Ruth and Peggy find an old doll made by Henry decades before. At the funeral, Ruth speaks of her love for Rachel and her grief, before leading the attendees in a Hawaiian chant to the ancestors. Ruth and Peggy leave poi, the doll, and the dress Rachel wore the day she met Ruth in California in her coffin. After she’s buried, Ruth and Peggy hold hands and sit in front of her parents’ graves under the “blue vault of the sky” (384).