Jamie and Claire keep secrets from one another as they try to help Brianna process her recent trauma. But the secrets they keep cause a bigger familial rift once they are revealed.
The Deep Heart’s Core opens on Jamie’s return from beating Roger. Brianna asks what happened and he claims it was a wee accident. Jamie asks Brianna to walk with him to check on his snares and while out there the two discuss her rape. She wants to know if he hates her for being an unwed mother and Jamie says it wasn’t something she’s done but he’ll find her a husband. Brianna won’t wed because she has Roger back in her time but she worries he won’t want her after her rape. Jamie doesn’t think a man who would hold that against her would deserve her.
Brianna tells Jamie how stupid she feels for following Bonnet into the room. Jamie tries to tell her there was nothing she could do but Brianna insists she could have fought harder. Jamie changes tactics and starts agreeing with her; telling her maybe she didn’t fight harder because she wanted it. When Brianna lashes out at him he subdues her and tells her he could break her neck and whether she could stop him. Brianna realizes she can’t stop Jamie nor she couldn’t have fought off Bonnet. Jamie points out had she tried to fight off her attacker he could have killed her.
Brianna asks if he fought Jack Randall which Claire told her about. Jamie is shocked into silence for a moment and then confesses that he gave his word not to fight to save Claire’s life. Brianna wonders if Jamie killed Randall because it is something she’s been wondering if it would help her feel better if she could kill her attacker. Jamie wonders what she’s get out of killing the man and she in turn asks Jamie what he was trying to get back by going after Randall in France. Jamie confesses he was trying to get back his honor. Brianna asks if her honor isn’t worth getting back and Jamie tells her she’ll get killed trying but Brianna is willing to take Bonnet with her.
Jamie says he killed Randall at Culloden and woke with him on top of him after the battle. Brianna thinks if he is dead she could forget but Jamie says she won’t forget only time will let her heal.
Roger, meanwhile, is being marched by the Mohawk to their lands with another prisoner. Both are tied to a horse and are following the Mohawk. Caleb, the other prisoner, falls and Roger tries to help but gets smacked for his efforts. Roger still helps Caleb to continue.
When the Mohawk stop, Roger and Caleb are tied to a tree together while one Mohawk tells the story of Sapling and Flint. Roger is tying knots into some string and Caleb asks what he’s doing. Roger is trying to keep track of time by counting the days and paying attention to landmarks to find his way back. He plans to return to his wife but Caleb thinks he needs more string.
Back at the Ridge, Claire is explaining that aborting the baby would be dangerous and painful. It would have to be surgical because she doesn’t have the right herbs. Brianna wonders if Claire ever considered getting rid of her. Claire says she never considered it but it was a different situation. Jamie and Claire loved each other and wanted her. Bree realizes Roger’s method of withdrawal isn’t really reliable and the baby could be Rogers. Claire reminds her if she plans to keep the baby she has to return to the stones now. Claire knows you can go through pregnant but there is not telling what would happen to go with an infant. The baby could stay while she goes or end up some when else.
The next morning, Brianna is carrying up some water buckets which Young Ian takes from her. Jamie comments Ian is smitten with her and Brianna finds that odd. Jamie asks if you can’t be smitten with a cousin in the future but Brianna says it is frowned upon.
Jamie and Bree watch Claire puttering in her garden and Jamie says she would grow roots there. Brianna says Frank used to say the same thing. Frank would joke Claire would leave them to go live in the woods which she did but she’s not alone. Jamie thinks Bree blames him for Claire leaving her but Brianna says she’s happy Claire did and she came looking too.
We see the progression of life on the Ridge: feeding the animals, trading with the Cherokee, family dinners, and chores.
Claire and Brianna are out pulling the laundry off the cloths line and saying things they miss from the future. Claire misses messy cheese burgers. Brianna misses peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Claire misses aspirin and Brianna says Led Zeppelin which is music Claire wouldn’t like. Claire misses listening to music whenever she likes and they both miss toilets.
Bree wakes at night to Roger sitting on her bed. She hugs him and tells him she’s pregnant. She tells him she doesn’t know if it is yours and Roger turns into Bonnet who says he’s allows wanted to be a father. He then attacks her and she fights calling out to Lizzie for help but Lizzie doesn’t wake. We then hear Lizzie calling out, “Mistress,” and Brianna wakes to Lizzie asking if it is another nightmare of that man who attacked her.
Brianna is surprised Lizzie knows about her rape. Lizzie promises the man can’t hurt her again. When Brianna asks how, Lizzie says she’s not supposed to say but that she saw the man was on the road and her Da beat him and got rid of him. Brianna asks how she knows what he looks like and Lizzie confesses she saw the man with her outside of the tavern. It then dawns on Brianna Lizzie thought Roger was her rapist.
Inside the cabin, Murtagh is updating Jamie on the whisky business and Jamie already has a customer lined up. Brianna bursts in wanting to know what happened to Roger. Lizzie told her Jamie beat him and Claire remembers he came home with and injured hand. Murtagh leaves and Young Ian tries to escape but Brianna makes him stay as he was involved as well.
Jamie confesses to beating the man on the road not knowing it was Brianna’s historian but doesn’t seem to regret anything if he ravished her. Brianna tries to set him straight and confesses she was with Roger but they were hand-fasted. Jamie misunderstands and believes Brianna claimed rape after Roger and she fought. Brianna slaps Jamie calling him a bastard and telling him she was raped by another man.
Jamie is shocked and tries to apologize to Brianna telling her he’ll make it right and he gives her his word as her father. Brianna tells him her father would never have said the things he said and that Jamie is nothing but a savage. Jamie is shell shocked. Young Ian asks who attacked her and Brianna gives Claire consent to show them her wedding ring. Young Ian and Jamie both realize it was Bonnet.
Young Ian confesses he sold Roger to the Mohawk which seems to be a surprise to Jamie. Bree slaps Young Ian. Jamie’s temper comes out and he knocks stuff off the table but Brianna tells him he doesn’t get to be angrier than her and Jamie reigns in his anger.
Brianna asks how they get Roger back and Ian tells them they were only passing through. Bree is willing to go after them but Claire tells her they live in upstate New York which is 700 miles away.
Meanwhile, Roger and Caleb are tied to trees but Caleb has died on the journey. One of the Mohawk unties Roger from the tree and ties him to his horse warning him they will ride faster than yesterday.
Around a fire outside the cabin, the Fraser’s make a plan. Young Ian doesn’t believe the Mohawk will kill Roger and they might just adopt him into their tribe. When Young Ian gave Roger to the Mohawk they gave him a necklace which Brianna says was his price. Young Ian tells her it will help them find the Mohawk that have Roger as it is unique to their village.
Jamie assures Brianna, Young Ian and he will find Roger but she’s not willing to let them go alone because they’ve caused enough damage. Jamie informs her having a woman with child along will slow them down and Ian reminds her the Mohawk are a week ahead of them meaning they can’t stop.
Claire pulls Brianna aside reminding her she hasn’t decided about the baby but Brianna wants the baby because it could be Roger’s. Claire promises to help her but Brianna wants Claire to go along with Jamie and Ian. She reminds Claire that Roger’s only interactions with Jamie and Ian was his beating and being sold to the Mohawk. Roger needs a friendly face and possibly a doctor. Claire is adamant about wanting to stay with Brianna and refuses to leave her on the Ridge alone with Lizzie. Brianna tells her to think of something else and Jamie offers River Run.
River Run is in the opposite direction and Murtagh offers to take Lizzie and Brianna to River Run and he looks forward to seeing Jocasta again. Claire tries to protest but Brianna tells her she’s going as is Ian and Jamie and they will bring Roger back to her before she walks off.
Jamie tells Claire he’d thought Roger had gone back and then reminds her she didn’t tell him about Bonnet. Claire points out he lied about hitting a tree and he says she assumed that and he let her believe it. But Claire walks away from him.
Jamie then asks Murtagh to go to Wilmington, after delivering Brianna to River Run, to find Bonnet. Bring Bonnet to him in secret so he can kill him.
Roger is knotting his string tied to his tree when the Mohawk comes to get him.
At the Ridge, Claire and Brianna say their goodbyes and Claire reminds her she won’t be back before the baby is born. Claire assures her there will be midwives at River Run. Brianna gives Claire a drawing of Roger for them to show people. Brianna wants Claire to tell Roger everything because now she knows he came back for her.
Young Ian goes to Brianna and tells her should they not find Roger he would be willing to marry her. He gets down on his knee and everything. Jamie tells him to get up and calls him and idiot.
Jamie comes to her and promises to find Roger and won’t rest until he does which Brianna says she’ll hold him to.
Lizzie promise to take care of Brianna and Brianna apologizes to Claire for making Claire leave.
Murtagh, Lizzie and Brianna set off for River Run while Ian, Jamie and Claire go off to find Roger.
Meanwhile, Roger is struggling to keep walking with the Mohawk who stop on the side of a hill where water trickles down. A Mohawk gathers water in a canteen and lets Roger drink. Roger tries to get more water from the trickling water but is pulled away. They continue on but Roger stumbles and falls over the side of the embankment and ends up hanging by one hand. The Mohawk try pulling him up but the rope gives and Roger falls down the hill.
When he stops, Roger gets up and starts running. The Mohawk pursue but Roger hides waiting for them to go by before continuing on.
At River Run, Murtagh and Brianna knock and are let into the house. Ulysses greets them and Murtagh tells him they are there to see Mistress Cameron. Murtagh gives Ulysses Jamie’s letter and Ulysses takes them into the drawing room where Jocasta is knitting.
Ulysses tells Jocasta there is a letter from Jamie and Murtagh states the letter says it is carried by Jamie’s godfather Murtagh FitzGibbons Fraser. She beckons him closer and when she takes his hands she says she recognizes them. Murtagh is surprised she would after so many years but she comments they were always assisting her sister or giving her sister flowers but it did Murtagh no good in the end as she married Brian. Jocasta tells him he got a godson out of it.
Brianna shifts and Jocasta wonders who else is there. Murtagh says it is Jamie and Claire’s daughter from Boston. Jocasta asks what else the letter says and this time Brianna tells her it says she is pregnant and unwed. It asks that she look after her despite the mark it might bring to her name while Jamie and Claire look for the man she is hand-fasted too who might be dead. Ulysses confirms that is the letter.
Jocasta stands and beckons Brianna forward. Jocasta feels her face and then laughs and welcomes her.
Meanwhile, Roger continues through the woods coming to what sounds like bees and finds a standing stone. He realizes he could escape, though it would mean leaving Brianna behind, as he still has 2 small gemstones on him. He stands near the stones and reaches out as the screen goes black.
