Great Circle

In February 1943, Jamie begins his painting assignment in Alaska. He is told to “express if you can, realistically or symbolically, the essence or spirit of war” (340). On the base, he paints everything around him. He eats the rationed meat and drinks alcohol because it seems “impossible not to” (341). He leaves Alaska and travels closer to the actual action of the war, continuing to paint. During the American invasion of Japan, he rides along on bombing missions and finds himself on the tail end of the landing mission in Attu. When his camp is attacked in the middle of the night, Jamie kills Japanese soldiers and then sketches the battlefield. Later, he realizes that his sketches are “scribbles and blotches out of which no sense could be made” (345).

Marian stays in a palatial house in the English countryside. Ruth is then stationed at the house, and, eventually, she forgives Marian for the awkwardness between them. Though Marian has avoided Ruth’s invitations to meet Eddie, she cannot refuse any more. They meet in London; they drink cocktails, talk, and dance. Marian cannot help but be charmed by Eddie. Later, Marian is surprised that Ruth does not go home with Eddie. Instead, Ruth walks with Marian through London’s dark streets. Ruth explains that her marriage to Eddie is “not romantic” (353); she believes that being married is easier because no one asks questions about married people. Marian kisses Ruth.

A month later, Ruth and Marian lie in bed together and discuss sexuality. Ruth has always known that she was a lesbian, while Marian is still coming to terms with her own sexuality. Unlike sex with men, sex with Ruth does not remind her of Macqueen. However, she and Ruth must keep their relationship secret. They go out in London with Eddie, who Marian now understands is a gay man in a marriage of convenience with Ruth. Eddie’s plane is shot down during a mission and he is declared missing. Ruth discovers that there is a possibility that he may have survived.

Jamie travels with the troops aboard a ship named Maria Fortuna, the sister ship of the Josephina Eterna. While passing through Seattle, he arranges a meeting with Sarah. They skip lunch and return to Jamie’s hotel, where they have sex. Afterward, they talk. Sarah’s brother died in the war, and she talks about her family. Jamie shares his experiences, and they discuss Marian and the time Sarah’s mother helped her to procure an abortion. Later, when he checks out of the hotel, Jamie sends Sarah his sketchbook with the abstract drawings he made after he killed those soldiers. He asks her to keep it for him.

In June 1943, Eddie is in a prison of war camp in Germany. He meets a man named Leo, who dresses like a woman and believes himself to be “more a woman than a woman” (365). In the camps, sexuality is treated very differently from the United States, but Leo and Eddie keep their relationship a secret nevertheless.

In November 1943, Caleb visits Marian in England. With great difficulty, Marian turns down the opportunity to sleep with him. She feels it might be a betrayal to Ruth.

Jamie spends the summer of 1943 in the Solomon Islands. He finds that he has “no pity for the enemy anymore” (371), as there is no room for compassion in the war, but worries that it will come to him afterwards. He struggles to tell Marian how the war has changed him. He thinks about Sarah often but does not write to her. In December, his ship is hit by Japanese torpedoes. Jamie falls into the sea and drowns.

A few days later, Caleb and Marian meet again. She still has not told him about Ruth, only that she has “someone” (374) in her life. She loves both Caleb and Ruth. When she learns about Jamie’s death, all Marian can do is fly. She takes a plane, even though the weather is dangerous, and thinks about crashing into the sea. However, she hears Jamie’s voice telling her to “turn around” (376). She lands the plane in a field. 

Adelaide Scott contacts Hadley. She has decades’ worth of letters to and from Marian Graves that she wants to show to Hadley. When Hadley asks why Marian left anything to Adelaide in her will, Adelaide reveals that Jamie Graves was her biological father. 

The day after landing in a field, Marian goes to Caleb to tell him about Jamie’s death. Caleb takes her back to her base, where he meets Ruth for the first time. Marian does not remember much, but she recalls telling Ruth to leave because she only wants to be with Caleb. 

Hadley films her scenes in Alaska. As with most films, she shoots the scenes from Marian’s life nonsequentially. She is struggling to come to terms with the enormity of Marian’s character, though Hugo compliments her acting. On a day off, she visits an Adelaide Scott art installation in Anchorage. She mentions Adelaide’s letters to Redwood but does not explain Adelaide’s relation to Marian. Hadley and Redwood take a plane trip around Denali Mountain near Anchorage. There, they kiss for the first time. 

In May 1944, Ruth sends a redacted letter to Marian. At the end, she explains that Marian hurt her, though she accepts the difficulty of the situation surrounding Jamie’s death. She mostly forgives Marian. As Caleb prepares for the invasion of mainland Europe, Marian is alone again. She sleeps with an older man because going to sleep in “an empty room would be worse” (388). 

Hadley visits Adelaide Scott to read Marian’s letters. After flicking through the sketch book Jamie sent to Sarah, Hadley talks to Adelaide. She admits that she told Redwood about the letters, but she does not necessarily want him to read them. After their trip to the mountain, Hadley and Redwood slept together. but she is unsure how she feels about the situation. Adelaide recommends that Hadley meet with “the kid who was raised by Caleb” (392), another of Marian’s old acquaintances. Adelaide explains that her parents told her that Jamie was her father when she was 14 years old, and she sought out and met Caleb. Despite her hesitation, Hadley begins to read Marian’s letters.