Epilogue Summary

Tom recognizes that he has taken a long time to tell the complete story to Dr. Lowenstein, and in the process, he has fallen in love with her. The call of family eventually wins out, however, and Tom returns to Sallie and the girls.

Savannah is about to be released from Bellevue, and she declares that she may still go away. Tom tells her to let him help if she does because he cannot imagine living his life without her. They conclude that the family has given survival to Tom and genius to Savannah. They welcome Henry back out of prison, a subdued man. He accepts the gift of a new shrimp boat from Lila, and they all go out on the water like they did when the children were small and Lila talked to them about the sunset and moon rise. Still...