The scene opens with Nora alone in the disheveled living‑room, nervously awaiting a visitor. A Nurse enters carrying a cardboard box of Nora’s fancy‑dress, complains about the dress’s condition, and offers to help mend it. Nora asks the Nurse to fetch Mrs Linde for assistance; the Nurse warns Nora about the cold and her own past as a child’s caregiver.

Mrs Linde arrives, helps Nora with the dress, and they discuss the upcoming fancy‑dress ball. Their conversation shifts to Doctor Rank; Nora tells Mrs Linde that Rank suffers from a fatal spinal disease and is near death. Rank later arrives, confirms his terminal prognosis, and shares bleak reflections on his inherited frailty and impending demise, while also expressing a possessive, almost jealous attachment to Nora.

Torvald Helmer returns home, shows papers from the bank, and declares his intention to dismiss Krogstad. Nora pleads with him to keep Krogstad employed, citing the danger Krogstad could cause if he is removed. Torvald rebuffs her, insisting the dismissal is already decided.

A Maid (Helen) brings a letter and money for the bank; Torvald prepares to send it, sealing Nora’s hopes that the matter is settled. Nora frantically tries to stop him, but he says it is too late.

Krogstad then enters, demanding that Nora prevent Torvald from reading his letter. He threatens to reveal the forged loan if she does not help him regain a position at the bank. Nora, terrified, promises not to let him publish the letter and begs Mrs Linde to be her witness to the forgery.

The tension escalates as the letter is seen in the box, Mrs Linde reads it, and Nora realizes the catastrophe is imminent. Torvald, oblivious, continues rehearsing the Tarantella with Nora, while Rank watches and later plays the piano for her dance. The chapter ends with Nora’s frantic pleas, Torvald’s continued indifference, and the looming threat of Krogstad’s blackmail becoming public.