In 1948, Mathilda Feiffer has taken over her husband’s business interests after his death in 1939. She runs the various companies and invests in publishing with a great degree of success. Still feeling guilty for her husband’s role in the sinking of the Josephina Eterna, Mathilda tracks down the children of Addison Graves. After several years, she finds Marian and meets her at the offices of the publishing company in New York. The only payment Marian will accept from the Feiffer family is to sponsor her planned trip around the world. She wants to fly around the world, crossing both North and South Poles. Mathilda suggests that Marian write a book to explain her motivations and her experiences. Marian agrees to keep an informal diary about her journey.

A year later, Marian waits for Eddie at a rented cottage in California. He will be her navigator on the 23,000-mile journey. She writes a little in the informal diary, confessing that she would rather make the journey alone, but she knows that this is impossible. As she thinks about Eddie, she thinks about Ruth, whose plane crashed before Marian could ever apologize to her.