Chase and Mandy Parker drive to the town of Jesup to investigate Jesup Brothers Bottlers, passing the Zuta on the way. At the dilapidated bottling plant, they meet a mechanic named Ruskin Skinner, who confirms that a man named Bo once worked there. Skinner says that Bo is in prison and that he believes he’s somewhere in the Florida panhandle. He gives them directions to the derelict trailer where Bo once lived with a woman. Although Skinner never saw the boy, he recalls that Bo talked about a child.

At the trailer, Chase reasons that a child who feared being beaten for touching things would have drawn somewhere the drawings wouldn’t be noticed. He finds a collage of detailed sketches on the underside of a table. On the return trip, Chase gives Mandy a tour of the Zuta, explaining how Ellsworth, Unc’s father, created a crossing over the Buffalo Swamp using three abandoned freight cars. Chase resents Jack for taking the Zuta and Sanctuary from Unc and fears that Jack will strip the property of its beauty and value before selling it to developers. Chase and Mandy then arrive at Unc and Aunt Lorna’s home for dinner. Tommye joins them briefly and cuts her finger while slicing pie but twice prevents Chase from helping with the injury. During dinner, Mandy learns that Tommye grew up with Chase and was taken in by Unc and Lorna as a child. Tommye also reveals that she has spent the past eight years working in the adult-film industry.

When Mandy observes that Unc has helped many children, he explains that his son was kidnapped and killed. During his time in prison, he often thought about his frightened son waiting for his father to rescue him, and after his release, he and Lorna decided to open their home to children regardless of their background or condition. This decision eventually led them to take in Chase. Later, Mandy tells Unc that if Judge Thaxton gives them a favorable decision, the unidentified boy could be placed with them as soon as the following afternoon. Chase then drives Mandy home in Unc’s hearse.

Chase visits the boy, or Sketch, at the group home, bringing him a pewter chess set. Sketch’s room is empty, so Chase finds him alone in the cafeteria working on a complex jigsaw puzzle. Chase sets the chess set on the table, and Sketch shows him how to play and then defeats him in about three minutes. After the first game, Sketch hands him a note that reads, “YOU STINK.” Chase then asks if Sketch would be willing to move to a foster home. Sketch writes that it depends on who’s doing the fostering. Chase asks how Sketch would feel about Unc taking him into his home and says he thinks Sketch would stay in Chase’s old room. Sketch points to the chessboard. Chase assures him that the set belongs to him and will go wherever he goes, and Sketch packs it away.

Mandy finds Chase on his boat, which is riddled with patched bullet holes, to deliver the judge’s approval for Sketch to move to Unc and Lorna’s home the following day. Chase takes her fishing, where she hooks a large redfish and is pulled overboard. She emerges from the water laughing, having never let go of the fishing rod. After Chase cooks their catch for dinner, he explains that a large scar on his foot is linked to his only memory of his father. Mandy recounts a childhood incident with a bully while explaining her distinction between vengeance and justice and her determination to hold people who abuse children accountable. She informs Chase that she believes the Bo they’re investigating may already be in prison and asks him to accompany her the next day when she visits him.

When Mandy later gives Sketch the news that he can move to Unc’s home, his subdued reaction reminds Chase of his own experiences moving through foster and boys’ homes. After repeatedly encountering abuse and neglect, Chase learned to become emotionally detached to protect himself from further hurt, and he recognizes a similar response in Sketch.

Chase then remembers his first summer with Unc and Lorna, when Unc took him on an early-morning fishing trip. While walking through the dark swamp, Unc held his flashlight behind himself so that Chase could see and reassured the frightened boy that the only monster he needed to worry about was the one he saw in the mirror. Later, their canoe overturned, and the current carried Chase into a logjam where his foot became trapped underwater. Unc remained underwater for more than three minutes to free him. When Chase asked why Unc did it, Unc told him that nothing compared to Chase, and Chase remembers that this was the first time he hoped his biological father would never return to take him home.

At five o’clock in the morning, Chase is startled by Tommye climbing aboard his boat. She’s bundled in sweats despite the warm June weather and is pasty with sweat. She gives Chase a shoestring holding two keys and asks him to keep them for her. She refuses to explain, only saying that she needs him to do it and will tell him more soon. As she insists that Chase keep the keys, her eyes fill with tears, and her voice drops to a whisper. She quickly leaves, mentioning that she told someone she would only be gone for an hour.

Later that day, Chase and Mandy visit the prison to meet with Bo. While Bo initially says he doesn’t recognize a photo of Sketch, he eventually admits that the boy lived with him and that he abused him. However, he insists that “[he] didn’t take him from that place. And [he doesn’t] know where that old woman’s necklace is” (146). Chase doesn’t know what necklace Bo is talking about, but he and Mandy hear the rest of his testimony about stealing jewelry from old people with dementia with his partner in crime, Sonya. In particular, they stole a diamond necklace from a woman named Mrs. Hampton. He reveals that Sonya, adopted Sketch from a boys home and took off with him and some stolen valuables. He was not aware that she had died, and as Chase and Mandy leave, he insists that Sketch is a thief who stole his baseball card.

Chase recalls that on the same day he nearly drowned in the boating accident, he and Unc came across a rescue scene where a young boy was trapped upside down in a narrow well. Because the adult rescuers were too large to fit, Chase agreed to climb down through the well’s crossbars and take a rope to the boy, on the condition that Unc hold the rope. He successfully rescued the child. That night, Chase wrote a letter to the father he never knew, describing the day’s events. He contrasted being repeatedly passed over and moved between homes, where children on the bus called him a “reject,” with the care he now received from Unc and Aunt Lorna. He described how they gave him a room and provided for him and how Unc comforted him when he questioned whether he was a mistake. Chase wrote that Unc called the unfamiliar feeling this gave him “hope,” which made him begin to believe there might be nothing wrong with him. He concluded the letter by stating that he was finally done waiting for his biological father to come for him. The following morning, Chase addressed the letter to “The Dad of Chase Walker” (159), mailed it, and waited to make sure the mailman took it.

After their visit to the prison, Chase and Mandy go to the boys’ home, where they find Unc losing a game of chess to Sketch. Mandy pulls Unc aside to warn him about the risks of taking Sketch into his home, pointing out that Sketch’s age leaves him increasingly likely to remain in foster care and with little chance of eventually being adopted. She also acknowledges the pain it would cause if his parents were to appear and the law returned him to them. Unc listens before assuring Mandy that he understands the risks. He says that he’s “no stranger to the rain” and that the potential for hurt is what makes the commitment worthwhile (162). He tells her that this isn’t his first experience with such a situation and asks her to let them do what they’re good at.

After spending the afternoon preparing the house and Chase’s old room for Sketch, Chase, Unc, Lorna, and Tommye wait for Mandy’s call. Once she arrives, the five drive to the boys’ home to pick up Sketch. While Mandy and Unc complete the transfer paperwork, Chase sees Sketch sitting alone on his bed looking out the window and recognizes the behavior from his own childhood. On the way home, Unc makes an illegal U-turn to get donuts from a Krispy Kreme with its “HOT NOW” sign lit, and Sketch eats several. The group pulls over to respectfully observe a passing funeral procession, a local custom that Unc explains to the boy. Upon arriving at the property, Sketch sees an old, hand-painted sign threatening to shoot trespassers, which Unc quickly explains was put up years earlier when people angry with him kept coming to the property. Sketch surveys his new surroundings with a mixture of fear and guarded excitement. Unc offers him his hand, and after looking at Unc and the others, Sketch slowly takes it. After initially going inside, Unc takes Sketch around the property and eventually into the greenhouse, telling Mandy that Unc is giving Sketch “the orchid speech” (169).

Chase and the others join Unc and Sketch in the greenhouse. There, Unc explains that orchids are resilient plants that can grow in unusual places but require the right balance of water, light, shade, air, and care. He tells Sketch that when their roots are cared for and they’re given a safe place to live, orchids can take root and bloom. Afterward, Unc addresses the boy’s name. Sketch writes that people have called him “Snoot” but indicates that he doesn’t like the name, and Unc agrees. Unc mentions that his father called him “Buddy” while explaining that William is his given name. Sketch then writes something in his pad and taps Unc on the chest with his pencil, and Unc confirms, “Then Buddy it is” (172). As everyone greets him by his new name, Buddy seems to stand taller. Tommye, who has been quiet, stutters as she tells Buddy that it has always been one of her favorite names. Chase then recalls receiving the same orchid speech from Unc and taking what felt like his first deep breath. Buddy looks around the greenhouse, closes his eyes, and similarly fills his chest with a deep breath.

Chase recalls being severely bullied by a classmate named Rupert in third grade. The taunts, which focused on him being an orphan and on the accusations surrounding Unc and the missing money, escalated into physical violence. Rupert eventually forged a note allowing him to get off at Chase’s bus stop, and one afternoon, he followed Chase off the bus and attacked him. Chase ran to the back door, only to find it locked. Unc stood inside, refusing to let him in and telling him that he had to learn to pick his battles and that this was one he had to fight. Chase then confronted the bully and fought back, bloodying Rupert’s nose and sending him fleeing. Afterward, Unc explained that Chase shouldn’t treat the incident as a reason to fight every boy but that turning the other cheek didn’t mean being a doormat. The following day, Rupert said nothing to Chase on the bus and got off at his usual stop.

While Lorna puts away Buddy’s belongings and Tommye and Mandy clean the kitchen, Tommye cuts her finger on a knife submerged in dishwater. The wound bleeds heavily, and she quickly conceals the blood-soaked paper towel in the trash. She refuses help from Buddy, telling him she has “cooties,” but ultimately accepts help from Unc, who helps her bandage the wound, noting that it may need a stitch. Later, after Buddy showers, Unc applies antibiotic ointment to his back before Buddy gets into bed. Unc then gives him a cowbell to ring if he needs anything. Thirty minutes later, Chase finds Buddy still awake and reports this to the others. Unc goes outside, and shortly afterward, a faint pitter-patter begins on the tin roof above Buddy’s room and grows louder. When Chase checks on Buddy again, he has fallen asleep with his arms folded protectively around the cowbell and his notebook. The next morning, Buddy joins Chase in the kitchen, and they eat cereal together in silence, which Chase observes seems fine with Buddy.