The government levels the forest around Luke's farm, forcing him inside and ending his ability to go outdoors.

Luke's parents forbid him from eating at the kitchen table and make him eat on the stairs instead.

The government orders the Garner family to surrender their hogs, removing a major source of food and income.

With money running out, Mother takes a factory job and leaves Luke alone in the attic each day.

Luke spots a child's face in a window of the neighboring house, despite believing all four residents had left.

Luke sneaks out of his house for the first time in months and breaks into the neighboring Baron house.

Luke discovers Jen chatting on a computer, and she tackles him to the floor when the security alarm triggers.

Jen tells Luke there is nothing wrong with being a third child and introduces the term shadow children.

Jen reveals she is organizing a rally of shadow children to march on the president's house and demand rights.

Jen sends Luke home with government-published books and independently printed articles about the Population Law.

Luke and Jen argue fiercely when Luke refuses to attend the rally, and Jen tells him to leave.

Jen sneaks into Luke's attic the night before the rally to apologize and say goodbye.

After a week of unanswered backdoor light signals, Luke goes to Jen's house and finds no sign of her.

Jen's dad reveals that Jen and 40 other shadow children were shot and killed at the rally by the government.

Jen's dad provides Luke with the identity of Lee Grant and drives him away to start a new life.

Luke Garner, an illegal third child, loses his outdoor freedoms when the government destroys the forest around his farm to build a housing development for the wealthy. As his family's situation worsens, Luke is confined to the attic with shrinking freedoms, until he spots a face in a neighboring window and takes the greatest risk of his life by breaking in. Inside, he finds Jen, another shadow child who introduces him to a world far beyond his isolated existence and reveals she is organizing a rally of shadow children to demand rights from the president. Luke refuses to attend the rally out of fear, the two argue bitterly, and Jen sneaks in one final night to say goodbye before setting off. After more than a week of silence, Luke discovers through Jen's grieving father that Jen and 40 other children were shot dead at the rally and the massacre was covered up. Armed with the false identity of Lee Grant, Luke rides away from his family farm, carrying Jen's memory and a quiet promise to continue her fight.

Luke's hidden existence, his friendship with Jen, and the aftermath of the shadow children's rally.

Luke's father catches him peeking through a window shade and drags him away, scolding him angrily.

Luke discovers that vents at the top of his attic walls let him see outside, and he keeps this a secret.

The family receives a tax bill for three times their normal rate, costing more than all the money from selling the hogs.

Luke watches wealthy Baron families touring the newly built houses around his farm through his attic vents.

Luke bakes bread and cleans the kitchen while the family is away, but his father arrives home and scolds him.

Luke and Jen agree on a backdoor light signal system to tell each other when it is safe to visit.

Jen reveals she travels to the city hidden in a hollowed car seat, using a forged shopping pass as cover.

Jen shows Luke the secret online chat room where hundreds of shadow children communicate with each other.

Luke reads the government books Jen gave him and feels intense guilt that his existence may be taking food from others.

Luke suggests a hydroponic gardening setup to his father, who becomes excited and starts researching the idea.

The government sends Dad a letter accusing him of planning to grow drugs and banning his hydroponic garden.

Jen reveals she hacked government websites to change Population Police schedules and clear a safe rally route.

Jen's dad shoves Luke into a closet and lies convincingly to Population Police officers who have come to search the house.

After the Population Police leave, Jen's dad communicates with Luke only through written notes because the house has been bugged.

Luke's mother tearfully begs him not to leave, but his father tells Luke he needs to go now.

As Luke's world shrinks, small but significant moments define the texture of his daily confinement, from his father's furious reaction to a peeked window shade to Luke's secret discovery of attic vents that become his only connection to the outside world. The family's financial troubles deepen with a tax bill three times the normal rate, while Luke finds brief satisfaction in baking bread before being scolded back to his room. Through his visits with Jen, Luke learns she travels the city using a forged shopping pass hidden in a hollowed car seat, communicates with other shadow children through a private online chat room, and has even hacked government scheduling systems to plan a safe rally route. Luke plants a hydroponic gardening idea in his father's mind that briefly gives the family hope, only for the government to shut it down on suspicion of drug growing. When the Population Police arrive after the rally, Jen's dad hides Luke in a closet and later communicates only through written notes because the house has been bugged. In the final confrontation with his choices, Luke's tearful mother begs him to stay while his father quietly recognizes that this is his son's only real chance at a life.

The small moments of confinement, discovery, and preparation that shaped Luke's hidden world.

Luke's mother explains that she chose to have him despite the Population Law because she wanted a third child badly.

Mark pretends to be the Population Police banging on Luke's attic door as a prank, making Luke's heart race.

The family loads their hogs into a trailer and drives them to markets and auctions to be permanently surrendered.

Luke daydreams about sneaking into a one-child Baron family's home and pretending to be their second child.

Luke realizes the face in the window must belong to a hidden child since both teenage sons had already left for school.

Luke observes that the neighboring house is the only one in the area with its windows always covered.

Luke punches through Jen's locked screen door to force his way in, cutting his hand on the torn wire.

Jen openly calls her dad on the phone to disable the security alarm, shocking Luke who believed phones were monitored.

Before Luke leaves Jen's house, Jen slices her own arm on the broken screen door to hide his bloodstain on the carpet.

Luke returns home from Jen's house and nearly slips up and reveals her existence at the family dinner table.

Luke reads the independent articles Jen gave him and begins to feel that his existence is morally justified.

Jen's dad confesses he works for the Population Police, causing Luke to panic and seize the gun from his lap.

Jen's dad explains that a general overthrew the government and built the Population Law to serve his own pride, not food needs.

Luke decides to accept the fake ID, reasoning that his caution and fear could make him more effective than Jen's boldness.

Luke hugs his family goodbye and rides away from the farm, silently promising Jen he will tell her story.

Luke's journey from passive obedience to determined action is driven by a series of private revelations and pivotal emotional shifts, beginning with his mother's explanation of why she chose to have him despite the Population Law. Clues accumulate as Luke watches the neighboring house, from a single moving blind to covered windows on a hot day, until he confirms there is a hidden child inside and makes the risky decision to cross the yard. His first meeting with Jen dismantles beliefs he has held his entire life, as she openly uses the phone, reveals the government's inability to actually monitor citizens, and slices her own arm to protect Luke from exposure before he leaves. Reading propaganda from both sides leaves Luke conflicted about the morality of his own existence, but the independent articles begin to quiet his guilt and suggest the Population Law is not the moral necessity the government claims. After the rally's deadly outcome, Jen's dad's confession about working for the Population Police and his explanation of how General Sherwood's coup created a cruel authoritarian state finally allows Luke to separate legality from morality. Accepting the fake ID, Luke resolves that his fear and caution, traits born from a life without privilege, may make him a more patient and effective advocate for shadow children than Jen's boldness ever could.

The discoveries, decisions, and emotional shifts that changed Luke's understanding of himself and his world.