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Part 3 begins with the narrator remarking that the world is full of nonsensical happenings. Although it hardly seems possible, Kovalyov’s nose, which had lived in St. Petersburg as a state councilor, eventually reattached itself to Kovalyov’s face without warning or fanfare. Kovalyov awakens one morning and is overjoyed to find his nose perfectly back in its old position. Ivan Yakovlevich arrives that same morning to shave him. Kovalyov asks if Ivan’s hands are clean, to which Ivan responds that they are, but Kovalyov isn’t convinced. Ivan begins shaving Kovalyov, and remarks on the surprise and absurdity of Kovalyov’s nose having reattached itself. Ivan gently takes hold of Kovalyov’s nose, as he does when shaving all his clients, but Kovalyov, still frightened at the possibility of the nose coming off again, instructs Ivan not to touch it.

After being shaved, Kovalyov visits a cafe where he orders hot chocolate and stares at himself in the mirror, admiring his nose. He haughtily compares his own nose with the tiny button nose of a nearby soldier, which Kovalyov seems to find inferior to his own. After socializing with several friends, Kovalyov seems satisfied that his nose is permanently back in place and everything is right again. He even meets Mrs. Podtochina and her daughter, who seem happy to see him despite the previous friction. Kovalyov still has no intention of marrying the daughter. The narrator tells us that, from then on, Kovalyov had his old life back, and his nose never ran off again. He maintained his professional reputation, continued to chase women, and was seen buying ribbons for a medal despite not being a knight or military man.

The narrator ends the story by reflecting on the strange events they have just recounted. They admit that the particulars of the story seem very far-fetched. The narrator feels that it’s unlikely a nose should disappear and reappear as a state councilor, but it also seems preposterous that Kovalyov would have believed that the newspaper would run an ad about his nose. The narrator also doesn’t understand how the nose turned up in Ivan’s bread. They’re quite baffled by all of it, and can’t imagine why an author would write such an absurd story. However, as the narrator keeps reflecting, they begin to realize that, the more you think about it, the more you’ll find that there isn’t much in life that isn’t absurd. There may be a bit of truth to the story after all. It’s rare, the narrator says, that strange things like these happen—but they do happen.

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