Three years from now, Stefan calls Tyler and asks him to get in touch with Caroline. His scar has opened up which means his time is running short. He sets fire to his car but can't bring himself to burn his diary along with it. 

In the present day moment of The Vampire Diaries Season 7 Episode 3, Bonnie is writing to Elena, but in the middle of her entry, she has another vision and wakes up on the floor. At the Lockwood Manor, Damon and Alaric discuss Damon's plan to rescue Elena's body when Bonnie interrupts them. Alaric tells her he destroyed the stone. The three set out on a road trip to South Carolina to Lily's absent Heretic.

Caroline voraciously reads Stefan's journals about his time with Valerie and when he calls, she asks him about her. Just as he's trying to put the pieces together, Valerie enters and smashes the phone. Outside the Grill, Stefan finds Lily trying to learn to drive a car. He learns that Lily sent Valerie to him in 1863.

Valerie wasn't supposed to fall in love with him, but she couldn't stop herself. Stefan couldn't stop himself either. 

In Myrtle Beach, Damon, Bonnie, and Alaric make plans to track and trap a Heretic. What they find when the reach his room is not at all what they were expecting. Oscar met Damon in Gettysburg when Lily sent him to find out about her other son. 

Valerie told Lily that Stefan had moved on from his mother's death, but the reality is that the opposite was true. He visited her grave every day and never forgave himself for being unable to help her live. Valerie tries to assuage his guilt by telling him he had been sent on a fool's errand which never would have saved his mother's life.

Bonnie and Damon ask Oscar to siphon Bonnie's visions in exchange for them not telling Lily that he's not completing the errand he's supposed to be on. When he sees Bonnie's vision, he knows they've been in the presence of the Phoenix Stone and incapacitates all three of them in order to steal the stone.

Valerie continues her tale of loving Stefan both to torment Caroline and to relive the moment herself. Julian, Lily's lover, refused to allow Valerie to return to Stefan and run away. She was pregnant with his child.

Bonnie, Damon, and Alaric manage to take Oscar down and retrieve the stone. 

Lily talks to Caroline and realizes Valerie lied to her about Stefan having moved on from her death. She has Nora remove the barrier spell and sets Caroline free. Valerie finds Stefan sitting on the same bench where they first met. She tells him about the baby and how she accidentally became the first Heretic when she died with Lily's blood in her system, but she cloaks herself so he can't see her.

Bonnie and Alaric discuss the severity of what he's trying to do with Jo's body. He asks for her help in resurrecting his wife. Damon calls Lily with an ultimatum. Oscar for Elena.

Caroline returns to Stefan but she's obviously hurting over his history with Valerie, who is busy killing Oscar so that he won't bring Julian back to Lily.