Mersault arrives at Zagreus's villa and silently opens his case to reveal a revolver and a sealed letter.

Mersault shoots Zagreus in the head and stages the scene to look like a suicide.

Mersault visits Celeste's restaurant with his colleague Emmanuel after a dock worker is injured on the docks.

Mersault watches strangers pass below his balcony each evening, playing the role of a silent observer.

Mersault sees a man staring at Marthe at the cinema and is overwhelmed by jealousy.

Mersault demands Marthe name all her former lovers; she reveals Zagreus among them.

Mersault meets Zagreus for the first time and begins paying regular visits despite an immediate dislike.

Zagreus opens a hidden safe containing a large fortune, a revolver, and a pre-written suicide note.

Police rule Zagreus's death a suicide; Mersault flees to Prague without reading Marthe's reply.

Mersault wanders Prague's streets feeling haunted by visions of Zagreus's dead body.

Mersault leaves Prague and travels across Europe before writing to old friends in Algiers.

Mersault moves into a hilltop house in Algiers with three women, which they call a house of happiness.

Mersault moves to the Chenoua, marries Lucienne, but insists she live separately and visit only when called.

Mersault meets doctor Bernard, who introduces him to the small community in the Chenoua.

Mersault dies in Lucienne's arms at dawn after his failing heart finally gives out.

Pool 1 follows the most critical events of Mersault's story, beginning with the opening murder of Zagreus in his Algiers villa. It traces how Mersault met Zagreus through his girlfriend Marthe and how their philosophical conversations set the murder in motion. After fleeing to Prague and drifting across Europe, Mersault attempts to rebuild his life in a communal house and then in isolated rural Chenoua. His marriage to Lucienne and his growing illness mark the final phase of his journey. The pool ends with Mersault's death, completing the novel's arc from cold-blooded crime to physical and emotional collapse.

The core events of Mersault's crime, flight, and death.

Mersault reads Zagreus's suicide note aloud to him before emptying the safe of its money.

Mersault returns to his apartment and sleeps until mid-afternoon after committing the murder.

Mersault reflects on his mother's prolonged illness and how he rented out her rooms the day after her funeral.

Mersault and Marthe walk to the cinema together; he feels proud to be seen with her.

Marthe realizes she can unsettle Mersault through jealousy and begins to tease him about her past lovers.

Zagreus and Mersault debate whether money is an aid or an obstacle to achieving happiness.

Zagreus describes accumulating a fortune through possibly illegal means before losing both legs in an accident.

Mersault finds his lodger Cardona alone and weeping over a photograph of his dead mother.

Mersault inspects a small wooden barrel Cardona carved as an undelivered gift for his deceased mother.

Mersault spends four days in Prague unable to settle, still lacking even a comb to tame his wild hair.

Mersault sits in a Prague bar eating very little while staring at the strange crowds around him.

Mersault travels through Genoa and begins to feel a furious passion to live as he nears Algiers.

The three women and Mersault host dinner parties with guests and debate the value of a sensuous life.

Mersault befriends the one-armed fisherman Perez; they play pool, share silent lunches, and go fishing together.

Mersault faints during a mountain hike with friends from the house above the world and is carried home.

Pool 2 focuses on the smaller but revealing events surrounding the murder and its aftermath. It includes the domestic details of Mersault's life in Algiers — his lodger Cardona's grief, his reflections on his mother's death, and the early dynamics of his relationship with Marthe. The pool traces the specific conversations in which Mersault and Zagreus debate money, happiness, and the futility of ambition. It then follows Mersault through the fog of his Prague exile and his slow, restless return toward Algiers. The pool closes on the moment Mersault collapses during a hike with friends, signaling that his body is beginning to fail alongside his spirit.

The quieter moments that reveal Mersault's inner world.

Zagreus's eyes fill with tears as Mersault aims the revolver at his head, but he does not resist.

Mersault admits to himself that he feels no emotional bond with Marthe and cannot love her.

Marthe reveals that Zagreus was her former lover and that she still occasionally visits him.

Zagreus and Mersault debate whether a person can truly understand themselves and remain happy at the same time.

Zagreus implies he wants to be killed and tells Mersault he may take the entire fortune.

Mersault leaves Zagreus's house promising to think about the implied offer, suspecting Zagreus is playing games.

Mersault wakes with a fever the morning after visiting Cardona and immediately leaves Algiers.

Mersault vomits in Prague's Jewish quarter and staggers back to his squalid hotel in a weakened state.

Passing through Vienna, Mersault realizes he has not thought of Zagreus and dares to hope he can forget.

The inhabitants of the house above the world recognize a happiness born of their abandonment to the world.

Mersault tells Catherine he is leaving the house because he fears the risk of being loved.

Mersault contemplates confessing everything to Bernard but abandons the idea after hearing Bernard's views on contempt.

Mersault swims far out to sea until an exhausting cold current forces him to struggle back to shore.

Bernard diagnoses Mersault's heart as failing and gives him a vial of adrenaline to stay conscious when dying.

Dying, Mersault feels himself and Zagreus share an unbreakable bond and lets his body return to the world.

Pool 3 captures the pivotal turning points that steer Mersault's journey toward tragedy. It begins with Zagreus's tearful, silent acceptance of his own death and moves through Mersault's growing awareness of his emotional emptiness in his relationship with Marthe. Key revelations include Zagreus explicitly offering his fortune in exchange for his life, and Mersault leaving his house to escape the threat of being loved. The pool traces Mersault's guilt-ridden exile, his failed attempts to leave the past behind, and the moment he nearly confesses everything to Bernard but retreats at the last instant. It ends with Mersault's conscious, lucid death — the willing, wakeful end that gives the novel its title.