Life Is Strange: Before the Storm

In her Oregon hometown of Arcadia Bay in 2010, 16-year-old Chloe Price (Rhianna DeVries; Ashly Burch in Farewell) sneaks into a punk rock concert at an abandoned lumber mill. Conflict arises with two men inside, but she evades them when schoolmate Rachel Amber (Kylie Brown) causes a distraction. The next day, Chloe and Rachel reunite at Blackwell Academy and decide to ditch class, stowing away on a cargo train and ending up at a lookout point. They people-watch through a viewfinder and see a man and woman kiss in the park, which upsets Rachel. They steal wine from local campers and take a walk to a scrapyard. Chloe confronts Rachel about her change in mood, but to no avail. Rachel later confesses that she witnessed her father, James (Patrick Finerty), through the viewfinder, cheating on her mother Rose (Kelly Handcock). Rachel destroys a family photo in a burning trash bin, and in a fit of rage kicks it over, igniting a wildfire.
The next day, Chloe and Rachel are reprimanded by Principal Raymond Wells (Marcus Oliver) for ditching school. Afterwards, Chloe has an argument with her mother Joyce (Bootsie Park) and the latter's boyfriend, David Madsen (D.W. McCann). She then hides out at the scrapyard where she finds an old truck in need of repair. Chloe later receives a call from local drug dealer Frank Bowers (Nick Apostolides), who arranges a meeting to discuss settling her debt. Chloe agrees to repay him by helping him steal money from her classmate Drew North (Trey Hutch), who owes Frank a large sum. However, Chloe learns that Drew is being violently extorted by another drug dealer, Damon Merrick (Kyle Williams). Later, when a student is unable to participate in the school's theater production of The Tempest due to road closures caused by the wildfire, Chloe reluctantly takes on the role opposite Rachel. After the play, they decide to leave Arcadia Bay with the truck from the scrapyard, and return to Rachel's house to pack. Following a confrontation there, James reveals that the woman they saw him kissing was Rachel's biological mother.
Rachel is told that her biological mother, Sera Gearhardt (Andrea Fletcher), is a drug addict, and that on the day her father kissed her, he had rejected Sera's plea to reunite with Rachel, after she adopted her away years before. Rachel vows to find Sera with Chloe's help, against James' wishes. Chloe contacts Frank, who agrees to meet her at the scrapyard. She repairs the truck there before Rachel arrives. They are ambushed by Damon, who stabs Rachel after he realises she is the district attorney's daughter. Surviving the wound, Rachel recovers at the hospital, while Chloe continues the search. She investigates James' office for clues about Sera, instead revealing that James is crooked and has been in contact with Damon. Chloe uses James' phone to convince Damon to disclose where Sera is located, and finds out that Damon has kidnapped her for ransom. She races to Damon to pay him off, but learns, when she reaches him, that James wanted him to kill Sera. Frank appears and fights off Damon, after which Sera entreats Chloe to never tell Rachel about James' actions. Back at the hospital, Chloe is faced with a choice: take matters into her own hands by telling Rachel everything or protect her from the truth. In the aftermath, Chloe and Rachel remain best friends, while Rachel also potentially reunites with Sera (if Chloe chooses to tell the truth). In a post-credits scene, Chloe attempts to contact Rachel, but she does not pick up her phone, as she partakes in a photography session, hinting at her eventual demise at the hands of Nathan Prescott and Mark Jefferson.

Farewell

In 2008, 13-year-old Max Caulfield (Hannah Telle) struggles to break the news to Chloe (Ashly Burch) that her family is moving to Seattle in three days. The two find a recording of their 8-year old selves speaking of a buried treasure. After finding the map and an amulet in the attic, Max and Chloe discover the treasure's spot, only to find that Chloe's father, William (Joe Ochman; Peter D. Michael in main episodes), had put their time capsule in a keg, along with his own recording, for safekeeping. Max can choose to either tell Chloe the truth, or hide it; their plans for the rest of the day are cut short when Joyce returns home and informs them that William died in a car crash. Max attends William's funeral days later and leaves for Seattle with her parents immediately after, leaving Chloe in grief.