Moiraine and Lan ready themselves for a journey to find the Dragon Reborn and we get a short background on the original Dragon.
Two men run through the mountains, trying to escape from four women in red on horseback. When the women corner them, one of the men disappears and we discover he was all in the second man’s head; one of the women says the madness already has him. The women begin to channel on him, and he screams in agony. Moiraine and Lan are watching from a nearby cliff. Moiraine says he was not the man they were looking for, and they head next to the Two Rivers, where there are rumors of four ta’veren who are the right age.
In the mountains, a group of women gather as one young woman, Egwene, is having her hair braided. She is welcomed by Two Rivers village wisdom Nynaeve, to the Women’s Circle. Nynaeve tells her to trust the river, then pushes her off a cliff into the water. Egwene fights to stay afloat, struggling to breathe, but eventually surrenders to the river and floats along until she can pull herself to shore.
Tam and his son Rand walk with their horse and wagon on a mountain path. They hear wolves howling and Tam says something has been pushing them down from the mountain.
Tam brings barrels of brandy into the Winespring Inn for Bel Tine as the village folk are partying.
Mat tries to get Rand, Perrin, and Danya to continue playing dice with him, even after he has lost all his money. Perrin and Rand push him to talk about his family, but Mat deflects. We find out Perrin is married, and Rand is in love with Egwene. Perrin mentions there is talk of war in Ghealdan. Mat leaves the table to spend time with Danya, eyeing her bracelet. Egwene enters with her new braid and gets a standing ovation from the crowd.
The party continues into the night. The door slams open and Lan enters silently. After Nynaeve confronts him, he introduces himself, and Moiraine. Egwene’s mother, Marin, recognizes Moiraine’s Aes Sedai ring and offers her a room. Moiraine goes upstairs but not before she eyeballs Mat, Perrin, Rand, Egwene and Nynaeve. The people are very wary of Aes Sedai. Nynaeve sends Perrin home to his wife, Laila.
Laila is working at the forge. Perrin tries to connect with her, holding her stomach, but things are tense between them.
Mat sees his mother drunk, watching his father hitting on a younger girl in front of the whole village. Mat puts his mother to bed, but not before she tells him he will end up a prick like his father. Mat takes his little sisters to bed with him.
Marin, her husband Bran, and Tam discuss the implications of Moiraine being in the village. The adults leave Egwene and Rand to finish cleaning up the inn. Rand asks Egwene about the ceremony, but she cannot tell him much. They kiss and the camera pans away….
Moiraine and Lan take a bath together. We see our first ass of the show. They discuss which of the kids could be the one they are looking for.
After coitus, Egwene tells Rand that Nynaeve asked her to be her Wisdom apprentice, which would mean Egwene could never marry. Rand leaves angrily. Egwene hears a strange wind. Outside the inn, a black rider appears, amid ominous music.
Peddler Padan Fain arrives in town the next morning. Tam tells Egwene Rand left earlier.
Mat tries to sell Padan Fain Danya’s stolen bracelet. Fain trades him for lanterns for his sisters. Mat calls him a rat bastard.
Moiraine and Lan walk through town. Lan sensed the black rider, one of the Eyeless.
Egwene finds Rand. He says he was thinking about the family and the life he would have in the Two Rivers someday. Egwene tells him she is going to say yes to being a Wisdom.
Moiraine confronts Nynaeve. She has discovered a lot about Nynaeve’s background. Nynaeve tells her the Wisdom who raised her was turned away by the Aes Sedai from the White Tower. Moiraine manipulates Nynaeve into telling her age.
Nynaeve and Egwene listen to the wind on a bridge and they both agree something sounds wrong.
Lan finds a bunch of disemboweled sheep posed in a strange shape.
Moiraine watches the boys from the window. Rand and Perrin give Mat money for his sisters’ lanterns. Rand leaves to go home.
At home on their farm, Tam, and Rand light a lantern for Rand’s dead mother. They discuss the Wheel turning and reincarnation. All the villagers light lanterns on the water. Perrin and Laila stand together.
Bel Tine begins with partying and dancing in the village square. Lan tells Moiraine there are Trollocs, and they need to leave, but Moiraine still does not know which of the kids it is. Trollocs bust into the square and madness begins. Nynaeve and Egwene hide. Laila and Perrin run to the forge. Padan Fain walks away calmly. Mat goes to look for his sisters.
At the farm, a Trolloc bursts through the door. Tam pulls a sword out from under the bed and fights it, but it stabs him in the shoulder. Rand spears it from behind, killing it, then sets out to bring Tam to the village for healing by Nynaeve.
Nynaeve and Egwene fight a Trolloc, Nynaeve letting out a battle cry. The Trolloc is ripped apart as Moiraine appears and begins channeling. Lan fights the Trollocs in unison with her.
The village women take down a Trolloc with rakes. Two Trollocs burst into the forge. Laila and Perrin fight them together, killing them both, but Perrin, in a berserker rage, turns on Laila with an axe and accidentally kills her.
Mat takes his sisters to hide in the woods. A Trolloc drags Nynaeve away by her braid.
Moiraine gets stabbed by a Trolloc dagger. She uses her waning strength to pull stones from the surrounding buildings to kill the rest of the Trollocs. The inn collapses.
Rand arrives with Tam in the aftermath. Perrin brings a dead Laila outside with the rest of the bodies, saying nothing. Moiraine heals Tam’s wound. Moiraine tells Rand, Perrin, Mat, and Egwene that the Trollocs are after them, and they must leave for the White Tower to protect the Two Rivers from another attack. She tells them one of them is the Dragon Reborn. They all ride out of the village.
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