In the snowy village of Silver Lake, David reads the bible to a silent crowd. Some pray. One young woman cries, and David comforts her with scripture. She asks when they can bury her dad. David shares a look with his right hand man, James, and says the ground is too cold.
David blesses everyone and shakes hands as the community leaves. When they’re alone he asks James how much venison is left. It’s not good news: even with the whole town on rations, they’ll run out in two weeks. James mentions a deer sighting nearby, suggesting a hunting trip.
In the basement Ellie pulls back Joel’s top. He’s running a fever and his wound’s leaking pus. Ellie wets his lips. She eats a tiny ration and leaves the rest for Joel, taking the rifle out into the woods. Ellie runs after a rabbit and falls flat on her face. But she doesn’t give up. And her patience is rewarded: Ellie spots a deer. She lies down flat, takes off her glove, and looks down the scope – just like Joel taught her. And shoots.
Though Ellie hits the deer, she doesn’t kill it. The animal flees and she follows the trail of blood through the snow. But David and James find the deer first. Ellie holds both men at gunpoint, making them drop their weapons and raise their hands. Though David praises her skills, Ellie isn’t taken in. David explains they’re from a large group, with women and children, everyone hungry. And Ellie claims to be from a big group too.
David offers a trade, and Ellie demands medicine in exchange for half the deer. She rejects David’s offer to come back with him, and they send James. David tries to make conversation but Ellie is all business, taking the bullets out both men’s rifles. She accepts David’s suggestion they take shelter in a shack and makes him drag the deer.
Over a fire David attempts to charm Ellie, inviting her to join his group. Ellie is her usual sarcastic self and doesn’t lower the rifle. She’s sceptical of a group that willingly chose to follow David, asking if it’s a cult. David admits to being a preacher, explaining that he only started believing after the outbreak – before that he taught math to kids Ellie’s age.
Ellie claims he got lucky, but David believes in destiny rather than fortune: “Everything happens for a reason.” David sent four men to scavenge, but only three returned. One was murdered by a man travelling with a little girl. During this speech James sneaks up on Ellie, gun pointed at her. He wants to get revenge by killing Ellie. David talks him down and insists on a handover. Ellie takes the medicine and abandons her share of the deer, running as David offers his protection.
Joel doesn’t wake when Ellie injects medicine into his wound. She huddles against him, for comfort as much as warmth.
Back in Silver Lake, kitchen staff struggle to cook with low supplies. Until one brings in a tray of bloody meat cut into cubes, which he calls venison. It’s added to the pot and dished out. The townsfolk wait until David and James return with Ellie’s deer. There’s a tense silence. David admits to finding their man’s killer, announcing a plan to track Ellie in the morning and bring Joel to justice. The grieving daughter wants to kill them both. David slaps her so hard she falls to the floor, then helps her back up with a promise to be a father and a demand for respect when he’s speaking. David leads a prayer about Christ, “the living bread”, and they all eat.
In the morning Ellie gives Joel another dose of medicine and goes out to gather snow for the horse to drink. She spies David and his men approaching. David warns that Joel is dangerous, still insisting they bring Ellie back alive in spite of James’s doubts.
A frantic Ellie shakes Joel awake, warning that men are coming and sharing a plan to lead them away. She gives him a knife and blocks the basement door with a shelf, riding off on the horse. Ellie yells and shoots at David’s men, galloping like fury. And they charge after her, using shortcuts between houses to gain ground.
James shoots the horse and Ellie goes down hard. She lies dazed in the snow while other men encourage James to finish her off. David fires a warning shot and picks Ellie up. He carries her back to Silver Lake and has two men drag the horse back, leaving the others to deal with Joel.
David’s men comb the streets and search houses. Joel wakes to footsteps. He stabs a man while choking him – a silent takedown. Even wounded, Joel is lethal.
Ellie wakes up in a cage. She asks David to let her out. And he tries to win Ellie’s trust by revealing that he stopped the others murdering her. Ellie responds to David’s questions with curses and reminds him she’s not alone. But David claims her life with Joel is ending and offers a new beginning. He insists Ellie is alone unless she trusts him, and leaves. A shaken Ellie curls up into a ball.
Meanwhile David’s remaining two men hunt down Joel. But the prey becomes the predator. Joel knocks them both out. And we see his darkest moment yet: a brutal interrogation. One man is tied to a chair while Joel tortures him for information, the other watching and knowing he’s next. The first man claims not to know Ellie, and Joel drives a knife into his knee, threatening to pop the cap off unless he tells the truth. He admits Ellie’s alive and points out Silver Lake on the map, begging for his life. But Joel stabs him and beats the other to death with a pipe.
Ellie tries to escape, attempting to climb out the window and pick the lock. Until she spots a human ear on the kitchen floor. Shaking with fear, she retreats to the back of the cage. David offers Ellie a bowl of food – he swears it’s only venison. She kicks the plate away and David admits to cannibalism. He reveals that only a few people know the truth, assuring Ellie she’d be one of them.
He pleads with Ellie, claiming it was a last resort. And in a creepy echo of Captain Kwong’s speech, David points out she’s a natural leader – smart, loyal, and violent. David says he wants an equal, a friend, and that the community will follow him and Ellie if she joins him. He takes Ellie’s hand through the bars, asking her to imagine the life they could build.
Ellie covers David’s hand with her own. Then she breaks his finger, making a grab for the keys. But David slams her against the bars and curses Ellie, threatening to use her body for meat.
At the same time Joel struggles through Silver Lake, following a bloody trail to the storehouse. He finds Ellie’s backpack, their dead horse, and human corpses hanging upside down like butcher meat.
David and James come for Ellie, and there’s nowhere for her to run. They grab her and she bites David’s hand in the struggle. The men spread Ellie out on the butcher’s block while Ellie begs them to wait. As David lifts the cleaver, Ellie shouts that she’s infected – and David is too. He slams the cleaver down and rolls up her sleeve, horrified to see fungus beneath her skin.
Ellie taunts him that everything happens for a reason. She takes the cleaver and slices James in the neck, running before David can shoot her. But the steakhouse doors are locked. Ellie takes a burning log from the fire and launches it at David, who ducks. The curtains go up in flames, and he chooses to pursue Ellie instead of putting out the blaze. David hunts her, still holding the bloody cleaver.
Ellie sneaks through the steakhouse while David rants about the life they could have shared. She picks up a knife and hides beneath a table as the fire spreads. And David says neither of them will die today – he’s going to “keep” Ellie and “teach” her as a new father.
Horrified, Ellie charges at David and stabs him in the gut. David throws her to the ground, where she spots the cleaver glowing in the flames and crawls towards it, sobbing. David kicks her in the ribs and pins a sobbing Ellie to the floor. He lets go of one wrist to unbuckle his belt. And Ellie reaches for the cleaver. She hacks David into pieces, screaming.
Ellie escapes the burning steakhouse, covered in blood. She screams and fights when Joel grabs her, only settling when they make eye contact. Joel hugs Ellie, calling her baby girl, and gives her his jacket. Holding onto each other, they leave Silver Lake.
