Summary
Having returned to Long Island, Weber discusses his attraction to Barbara with Sylvie. Sylvie is hurt but tries to sort out what exactly about her is appealing. His daughter, Jess, comes to visit for Christmas and immediately sees that something is wrong. Sylvie tells him she just wants him to go back to being himself. Later, he delivers a lecture at a local college. As the semester has progressed, his students have become increasingly critical of him. He sees a student who looks like a young version of Sylvie. As the class ends, he feels that he needs to quit teaching, as he can no longer do it confidently.
Mark sees himself on the television show he called into and thinks he doesn't look right. Mark and Karin travel to a barn together where Mark tries to give her another authenticity test. Then they reminisce about their childhood and their mother's strange behavior. She asks about herself, wondering if Mark can talk about "his sister" and Mark bursts into tears. They share a relatively nice afternoon together and drive home. She has second thoughts about giving him antipsychotic medication.
Tommy stops by Mark's house in his army uniform. He is preparing to be deployed to Iraq. Mark doesn't trust him and doesn't want to let him into the house. Tommy tells Mark to talk to Duane and leaves. Later, Daniel calls Mark. They talk about the past and Daniel tells him about his work with the cranes. Daniel heads over to Mark's house for a visit. They are excited to see each other again. Mark expresses his concerns about being followed by imposters and drugged by the doctors. He asks for advice and says that Daniel was always honest with him, even when they were young. Barbara shows up and the visit draws to a close. Daniel regards her with distrust.
Mark begins taking the antipsychotics and has a bad reaction. He calls Daniel and Karin in the middle of the night. She becomes worried by the things he is saying, as he claims to have died on the operating table. She heads over to his house. He is taken in for a scan with Dr. Hayes. Subsequently, she is called by the police department and informed they have arrested Duane. Furious, she heads to the station. She talks to Duane, who tells her that they were racing that night of Mark's crash, and they called in Mark's accident after they found him on the side of the road. Mark is sent back to the hospital after overdosing on his medication. Karin feels hopeless, as though she truly has no place in Kearney. Daniel learns that the development company has been given the right to build on the refuge. He is crushed.
Karin tries to help him, by revealing that the development company has far more elaborate plans for the refuge. She also admits to spending time with Karsh, as this was the way she was able to learn about this fact. They have a bitter argument in which he finally gets angry at her for chasing after Karsh again. He leaves the house and she is extremely upset. She calls Bonnie and asks for a place to stay. Weber returns to Nebraska and goes to see Mark again. Bonnie comforts Karin. Later Karin runs into Karsh in town and he angrily says that her giving away information to Daniel won't stop their plans. Weber's talk with Mark yields little information.
Weber runs into Karin, who tells him Barbara reached out to Daniel a year ago, asking about cranes. She suggests she is working for the developers. Weber goes to visit Barbara. They sleep together and then go out to watch the cranes together. Weber receives a call from his daughter angrily rebuking him for what he is doing. Weber and Barbara go out to get a meal together. At the restaurant, she tells him that she was the figure on the road that night and that she was trying to kill herself. Mark swerved out of the way and saved her life. He wrote the note to himself before passing out. She reveals this to Mark as well, fully shattering his trust in her.
Mark and Karin have an emotional reconciliation. Mark acknowledges that she is who she claims to be and she is joyfully relieved. Mark also says Daniel has departed Kearney to work at a crane preserve in Alaska. They share a peaceful moment together watching the sunset. Weber has a final meeting with Mark. They discuss what Barbara revealed to him. Mark tells Weber he forgives Barbara, and suggests that she come work at the refuge. The novel ends with Weber arriving at an airport, looking for Barbara in the crowd of people waiting for arrivals.
Analysis
The imposter motif takes on a surprising meaning at the end of the novel. Barbara reveals to Weber that she was the figure on the road the night of the accident. She says that she was assigned to write about the cranes in Kearney for her job as a journalist. Feeling lost and despairing, she attempted to kill herself by running into the road. Mark swerved out of the way in an effort to save her and spared her life. She stayed in Kearney, pretending to be a nurse’s aide so she could care for him and check up on his condition. Like Daniel predicted, she is not who she claims to be, but instead of being a spy for the development company, she is a woman who feels guilt and is trying to atone for the harm she caused the person who saved her. Ultimately neither Karin nor Weber are the real imposters; it is Barbara who is claiming to be something she is not.
Environmentalism is also a major theme in this concluding part of the book. Karin tells Daniel that the development company is planning to do more than just a small building, they intend to use the crane habitat as the site of a water park and several attached components. This allows Daniel to dissuade the crane refuge from working with the company. This revelation shatters Daniel’s trust in Karin, as she also has to reveal that she learned this from Karsh. While it hurts her to lose Daniel, she feels that she can finally repay his kindness by helping him protect the thing he cares about most: the cranes and their river. While she views this act as selfish, she is ultimately helping Daniel’s cause in a major way while giving up both of the men she loves.
Identity is also a major component of the book’s conclusion. Weber falls to pieces in his final visit to Kearney. Despite his wife’s sadness and daughter’s rage, he seeks out Barbara and pursues a relationship with her. His entire professional identity appears to crumble as he works towards entirely selfish ends. Karin's assessment of him, as well as the criticism of his work, ultimately appears to be well-founded, as he is unable to uphold his role as a researcher. He returns to Nebraska not to help Mark, even though his suggestion made Mark's condition worse, but to reconnect with Barbara. Here, we see Weber's singular focus on Barbara, as he no longer even pretends to be thinking about Mark or his condition. The medical language thins out as his true purpose becomes apparent. He finally gives up the guise of professionalism.
Love is also a major theme in the book’s conclusion. Mark and Karin reconcile near the end of the book. She visits Mark after Barbara has informed him of what happened on the road the night of the accident. Mark recognizes her and they share a moment. While they both know this will likely be fleeting, their bond endures all of the trials of the accident and its aftermath. Their relationship is not transactional, unlike many others in the novel. While things between them may not remain permanently good, in this particular scene they both are able to appreciate one another for exactly who they are. While the last section between them occurs in Karin's close-third perspective, it shows them joining together once again. Structurally, there is no need to see the scene from both vantage points, as they have found a fleeting connection, and hold onto it tightly.
In the end, the novel not only explores the phenomenon of Capgras, but also the idea that people fulfill roles in life, often failing to measure up to other people's ideas of them. Weber wants to be the perfect researcher, a compassionate but objective observer of case studies. Barbara wants to be a great caregiver to the person who saved her life. They both prove unable to do this, as the truth of their personalities comes to light. It is Karin, accused of being an imposter, who manages to be true to the role she cares about most: loving, dutiful sister.
