Summary

In section i, Theo receives his acceptance letter into the early college program.

In section ii, Theo is pleased that the early college program is not demanding and he can go through the motions. His teachers and counselors attempt to get him involved, to no avail. Theo still longs for Pippa, and prefers to work with Hobie in the shop rather than go to school. Theo remembers his mother, Boris and his father.

In sections iii to iv, Theo learns the trade of antique furniture restoration.

In sections v and vi, Theo helps Grisha, Hobie’s Russian moving and storage man, at the fine arts storage building, where Theo thinks he has found a solution to the problem of The Goldfinch painting.

In section v, Theo has two anxiety-provoking incidents: the fire at Hobie’s and Hobie found in...