Rachel goes in for her first day of chemotherapy while Greg and Earl watch an obscure British film and discuss how they would remake it. Earl suggests they visit Rachel in the hospital after they finish watching the movie, which surprises Greg. He hadn’t even known if visiting was allowed, but Earl has made a phone call to find out, and it disheartens Greg that he didn’t think to do that himself. They bike to Earl’s and stumble into a fight with Earl’s half-brothers, Maxwell and Brandon. Greg tries to escape and dives headfirst off the front porch, breaking his arm.

Greg ends up in a different area of the same hospital as Rachel when his broken arm becomes infected. He lists the conversations and reactions of his various visitors in bullet-point style. Mom visits alone. Mom visits with Gretchen, then with Grace. Earl visits, bringing with him homework assignments, a review of Mulholland Drive, and admonishments for being so upset about showing Rachel their films. Dad visits with a horrifying story about his own hospitalization in the Amazon beneath a thatched roof full of fist-sized spiders. Earl visits again, this time with Derrick. And, to Greg’s astonishment,