Nick Blaine was an unemployed Michigander before the second revolution, afterwards rose from 'the mail room' to the upper echelons of Gilead. A complex character, he had High Commander patrons, as well as Mayday contacts. Meeting June Osborne and losing Andrew Pryce set him on a narrative of no return.

The Putnam administration in the New Gilead District, from Angel's flight to Fred Waterford's death. "It's fubar, honey, it's fubar." Also, Blaine's and Lawrence's rise, and the power of the Bloodlines Archives. Finally, the Putnam's eventual exile to Canada and Hawai'i.

Joseph Lawrence misses out on university tenure, only to be pressed into service by The Sons of Jacob, who he despises. Trying to avoid the Handmaid program as a Commander, he's a first-hand witness to resistance activity, which he abides because it gives his deteriorating wife some purpose. Helped by a well placed frat-brother, he stays alive to become an architect of Gilead.

The vacation to Antigua is cut short for the Waterfords and Cushings. There's a foreboding between Sonia and Serena over what had transpired there. Tension in the Waterford home as 'Gilead' starts to take shape.

During the Glanders scare, Phillip and Elizabeth cancel EPCOT to go into quarantine. They're also too late to call off the 'accident' that Pastor Tim and Alice were scheduled to have. They're killed. With her parents nowhere to be found, Paige goes nuts, heads over to Stan's. Martha's cover is blown. Are Pastor Tim and Alice 'Russians? Then Reed Street church moves on.

Presentation by Johnnyboy Longclaws III to the 17th Symposium, in the wake of the controversy, and suspension, of James Darcy Pieixoto - for allegedly forging his 'Handmaids Take' document. Also, this is the first presentation of the newly found Miller/Moss folios.

Rita's own account of her difficulty with freedom in Canada, her recounting her enslavement as a Martha. Her telling of her dreaded secret sin, which let her live while others did not.

Reed Street Church's secretary, Jackie, recounts her time as secretary to the church. She assists Pastor Tim and Pastor Dale in their work, and has brushes with the intrigue swirling in their church. Of note is the envelope in her desk, which holds explosive content.

Emily and Sylvia's adopted daughter arrives in Gilead on a political junket, while working with a Canadian Member of Parliament. Scene is set about 25 years after the events at the end of Season 4 of the Handmaids Tale. (Should read chapters 12-17 of "Consequences after Fred's death," in this FanFic menu to get context.) Later, NATHAN O'ROURKE gets the story, gets his own junket!