In the past, it’s the Evil Queen’s birthday and all she wants is Snow White’s heart on a plate. Her father warns her that Cora will always control her as long as she has a quest for vengeance. He summons Cora through the mirror in the hopes of getting her to tell Regina to let go of her need for revenge but Cora only encourages her. 

Cora uses the magic that summoned her to steal Snow’s heart. She gives the heart to Regina for her birthday. If she crushes it, Snow will die. But Regina’s father has switched the heart. A knight dies instead. Regina puts her father in the box where the heart was. She swears she’d never hurt him but she needs him out of her way. Then Regina sends Cora back to Wonderland but Cora steals the box with her father inside before she goes. 

In the present, Emma awakens to find Neal in her car. He warns her off of going to the Underworld. That leaving there won’t be easy. Neal is not in the Underworld. He’s someplace where he’s happy.

When Emma awakens again, they are all in the Underworld, which looks like Storybrooke. The clocktower is broken and in the street. Everyone there has unfinished business and they aren’t happy with their visitors. 

Cora summons Regina. She has unfinished business. Cora tells Regina to leave now. That her friends and family are what’s holding her back. She’s arranged for a boat to take Regina, Henry, and her “thief” home. Regina refuses to leave. Cora kills a man in the fires of hell to convince Regina to leave. She says that her father will suffer if she doesn’t leave. 

Peter Pan comes for Rumplestiltskin. He tells his son he wants to go back to the world but he has to take the place of a living soul. Perhaps one of his friends will do. 

Gold returns to the group with a way to find Hook. He tells them to do it on their own because he’s headed to the boat. 

They head to Killian’s grave and pour the magical substance over it. He appears, horribly wounded and suffering but then disappears again before he can tell them where he is. He doesn’t even seem to realize that they’re there looking for him.

Regina sees her father at the cemetery and says how sorry she is for what she did to him. He tells Regina to stay and help her friends. She finally put vengeance aside to be a hero. If she stays, she’ll spread hope. That’s the best thing she can do. 

Cora tries to throw Regina’s father into the fire but it doesn’t work. A portal opens for him to head for the light; a better, happier place. He always wanted Regina to be free of Cora and now she is. Before he leaves, he gets to meet Henry. The clock in the center of town ticks once again. Every time it ticks, another soul is saved. 

Regina believes that others in the Underworld can be saved too. Everyone but Rumplestiltskin is on board with the idea. He wants nothing to do with it. 

Cora is summoned to a cavern below the town. She meets a man who may be the devil. He’s angry because she didn’t get Regina to leave like she promised and now a soul has been allowed to leave the Underworld. To punish her, he turns Cora back into a poor miller’s daughter.