The first episode of Turn of the Tide Season 2 opens with the ominous backdrop of the 9/11 attack, as a ship carrying Eduardo and Carlinhos towards New York is about to be inspected by the US Coast Guard. Carlinhos' injuries from his brutal beating at the hands of the Italian drug lord, Monti, have festered, and he finally gives up the fight. Eduardo, determined to escape, attempts a perilous swim to the city but is swiftly apprehended. The whole harrowing tale is narrated by the ghostly presence of Arruda, a local thug now long gone.
Three months have passed since then. Joe, the unscrupulous figure, has done nothing with the cocaine Eduardo left in his hands. Both Eduardo and Carlinhos find themselves in a New Jersey detention center, with Carlinhos even striking up a romantic connection with one of his fellow inmates. Inspector Frias, relentless in her pursuit of justice, continues to dig into the disappearance of Monti, even though the case has been technically closed. The pregnant Silvia works as a janitor, her mind a maelstrom of hallucinations and her body barely nourished.
Carlinhos, wary of causing trouble, contrasts with the optimistic Eduardo who tries to find the good in every situation. His attempt to embrace the first snow of the season turns into a prison riot when someone steals Carlinhos' harmonica. The episode ends with Carlinhos' boyfriend being savagely stabbed to death.
An abandoned dog uncovers Arruda's corpse in the mountains, leading to Joe's arrest. Despite the evidence being largely circumstantial, Joe's cocky demeanor sees him released. However, the case of the Italian drugs is reopened to Frias's elation. Eduardo and Carlinhos are finally being deported and sent back home. The flight is short but a lifetime for Eduardo, who is met by an empty embrace upon arrival. Walking into town, he sees that everything has changed – even his house has been reduced to rubble.
A new chapter of turmoil unfurls with the arrival of Arruda's brother, Orlando, a meticulous individual who only stirs when he stumbles upon Arruda's watch in Joe's abode. He places a bounty on Arruda's life, and his cringing demand is met with a willingness to accept any form of payment, even the contraband cocaine that his henchmen have discovered in Joe's humble abode.
As Orlando attends Arruda's funeral, he witnesses Silvia, a woman in turmoil, still grappling with her father's demise. She recalls Orlando from her childhood, when he gently tried to steer her away from her father's violence and into the realm of math and numbers.
Meanwhile, Eduardo struggles to rebuild his life, gathering his meager belongings from wherever he can find them. However, when he ventures into the field, he discovers that the cocaine has been siphoned off. Arruda poses a rhetorical question to the audience: Who is the true owner of the drugs—Orlando, Joe, Eduardo, Monti, or perhaps someone else entirely?
The scene cuts to a flashback of a shootout in a Colombian forest, where a mafia lord asserts his dominance by forcefully taking over another gangster's territory. Two of his workers are none other than Francesco Bonino and Gianluca from the previous season. He imprints his logo on the newly acquired stock—a centipede.
In the present, Eduardo finds his uncle drowning his sorrows at the local bar. When Eduardo demands the drugs back and refuses to listen to Joe's rambling about the benefits of their disappearance, a drunken Joe decides to take matters into his own hands. He pays off some customers and arms them with guns to retrieve the drugs from Orlando.
The scene shifts to Orlando gathering Arruda's friends and raising a toast. Family is what matters most to him, and everything has been left to Silvia, including the drugs. At first, she hesitates to touch any of it, but when Orlando presents her with a choice—to take everything or leave with nothing—she pauses for a moment before taking a sip and accepting the drugs.
As Orlando leads Silvia outside and presents her with Arruda's car, Joe and his band of thugs make their move, poised for an attack until Eduardo catches sight of Silvia and calls off the assault. Back at the bar, the gang is incensed, labeling Eduardo a coward. Joe lays a beating on them, but he confesses, admitting their rightness and his own disdain for such actions.
Meanwhile, Frias prepares to depart for the Azores, leaving her daughters, Mariana and Sara, in the care of their father. Mariana resents the stepmother and yearns to stay with her mother. But Frias is consumed by the case, nearly driving off with young Sara in the car. As for Eduardo, he may be deemed a coward by some, but he harbors a cunning plan. He approaches Silvia, who is overjoyed to see him. She holds back from revealing her pregnancy and uses it as leverage to emotionally coerce him into joining her in the drug business. Silvia agrees on the condition that she will call the shots. And as the episode of Turn of the Tide Season 2 concludes, the news bulletin reports that their deceased friend, Rafael, is very much alive.
