In voiceover, Jake says 490,000 babies will be born today. Each is a link in the greater human chain, an individual with hopes, dreams, and desires.

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, teenager Norah texts her friend Shada: "My Dad said I have to marry this guy :( c u in 10 min." She sneaks out.

On the Metro subway in Montreal, Canada, med student Sami worships a cute blonde from afar. They get off at the same stop, but he never speaks to her.

In a New York City church, a young woman named Marisol Flores lights a candle.

Jake continues: Each of us is made up of a dozen systems. What appears to be an individual is actually a network. And every hope harbored, dream attained, and desire fulfilled has a greater impact than you can imagine.

At least, that's how Jake sees it.

Jake sends Martin his latest message while at a restaurant with Clea: A pattern of circles inside each other, all touching at one side point, like an enclosed spiral. Clea reminds Martin of Jake's evaluation today at 5 o'clock. She mentions a package his sister-in-law, Abigail, sent. Martin's surprised, because he didn't tell her where Jake is; after Sarah died, she tried to take him.

In Riyadh, Shada is horrified when Norah drives up, dressed in her brother's clothes. It's illegal for girls to drive! Norah has boys' clothes for Shada too. She's angry that only boys get to make choices. So today, they're gonna be boys.

Dr. Arthur Teller informs Martin that Jake's spiral is a riff on a heptagonal number; basically, it's the number 22. When Teller looks at the spiral image on his computer, in his mind it shifts into 3-D, takes a new form, then expands outward.

Outside Riyadh, Norah and Shada stop to help a pregnant woman.

A thief named Wember grabs Martin's laptop. Martin chases him onto a bus - No. 22. Wember escapes, and Martin sits beside Marisol. Her bag has a Hudson University logo - Jake's spiral. She shoves a gun in his gut and won't let him answer his phone. It's Clea; he's late for the evaluation.

Wember gives Martin's laptop to his daughter, Mandy, who's celebrating her graduation at a Chinese restaurant. Her stepdad also has a gift: a new car! Wember hatches a plan to one-up his rival.

Sami's working late, searching a database with a logo resembling Jake's spiral to find a bone marrow donor for an adopted boy, Gabriel Wilmington. He tells his friend Alexandre that the blonde's always on the 8 o'clock train. Alexandre scoffs: Sami's just going to marry the girl his parents picked anyway.

At Victory Memorial Hospital, Teller asks his daughter, nurse Maggie Miller, for an MRI. She realizes, "It's happened again," but he's excited about finding Jake and the "key to the next numbers in the sequence." He says it's different this time; "they" don't know he's found the boy. Maggie, concerned but angry, says he's just seeing things. He disagrees, and stalks away.

Norah runs out of gas, but the baby's coming - early. She calls her brother Fahad to bring fuel, and the pregnant woman phones her husband in New York.

A man boards the bus. Marisol says he killed her family ten years ago in her village. Her brother, Gabriel, was only five. Martin argues she doesn't have to take revenge.

The bus veers - the pregnant woman's husband ran for a cab, straight into its path! Marisol drops the gun. Martin grabs her target, Hector, and flees. He sees Hector's tattoo: "Exodus 22:22." Marisol catches up, and Martin gets between them. Nearby, dragon dancers cavort with a banner congratulating Mandy. Their firecrackers distract Marisol. Hector flees. She pursues, and gets hit by a van.

Outside Riyadh, a car arrives, but it's Norah's dad! They argue, and she says we either define our fate or are defined by it. Who teaches her this nonsense? He did.

When Norah removes her headdress to swaddle the newborn girl, the woman realizes that Norah's a girl too. Later, she refuses to ride in the car with the girls, because their behavior's forbidden. Fahad and a cousin will pick them up.

Marisol is at Victory Memorial. Martin looks up Exodus 22:22: "Do not take advantage of children whose fathers have died." Later, Hector explains that he attacked the village, in wartime, but took the children to missionaries, who sent them to Canada. Martin spots Gabriel's request in the database on Maggie's monitor. He tells Marisol her brother's alive - and needs her help.

Alexandre mistakenly took Sami's hospital tote bag, so Sami doesn't have his Metro pass. Dejected, he turns and sees the blonde. She missed the train too. He finally met the girl. And now Norah doesn't have to marry him!

Jake lies in bed. Among the contents of Abigail's package, Martin finds a cassette labeled "Love Mom." It's Sarah, telling Jake he can listen to it when she isn't there to say good night. She sings a bedtime song.

Jake says in voiceover that what seems like a twist of fate, from another perspective, is simply a connecting thread pulled tight, how things should have been all along. Marisol reunites with Gabriel. Norah finds American college brochures on a table. Teller watches himself in an old TV interview, talking about children with higher states of consciousness. Over and over, he plays a snippet: ". . . without you, these children would be lost."

Jake: But sometimes, the most important connection is here and now.

Father and son look at each other. "Good night, my sweet," says Sarah on the tape. "I love you."