Douglas wakes in the grandparents' cupola and ritualistically commands the neighborhood to wake, starting Summer 1928.

Douglas experiences a sudden, overwhelming epiphany about being truly alive while wrestling with Tom in the countryside.

Douglas proposes a work deal to shoe store owner Mr. Sanderson and earns a new pair of tennis shoes.

Grandpa and Douglas hang the porch swing, and neighbors begin gathering on the porch for evening conversations.

Leo Auffmann's Happiness Machine overheats and catches fire after delighting users but leaving them saddened by ordinary life.

Mrs. Bentley makes a bonfire of her childhood possessions and accepts that she is simply 72 years old.

Charlie brings Douglas and John to visit Colonel Freeleigh, who tells thrilling stories of his adventurous past.

John Huff tells Douglas that his family is moving to Milwaukee and that he must leave that very evening.

Douglas and John play a final game of Statues with the boys before John quietly says goodbye and leaves.

Lavinia Nebbs and Francine discover the body of a strangled woman in the ravine and summon the police.

Lavinia returns home after the movie to find the Lonely One waiting in her living room and kills him with scissors.

Great-Grandma decides her 90 years of life are complete, goes upstairs, and dies peacefully surrounded by her family.

Douglas falls dangerously ill with fever; Mr. Jonas arrives at midnight with bottles of magical cool air that heal him.

Douglas secretly restores Grandma's kitchen to its chaotic state overnight, burning the new cookbook and reviving her cooking magic.

Douglas spends the last night of summer in the cupola, commands the town to sleep, and ends Summer 1928.

Pool 1 follows the major turning points of Douglas Spaulding's transformative summer of 1928, from the moment he ritualistically wakes summer into being to the night he puts it to rest. The season delivers joy and heartbreak in equal measure: a spiritual awakening, beloved neighbors lost, and a best friend torn away. The Lonely One's reign of terror over Green Town culminates in Lavinia's terrifying confrontation in her own home. A mysterious fever nearly kills Douglas before the wandering Mr. Jonas heals him with bottled air from faraway places. By summer's end, Douglas has restored Grandma's cooking magic, returned to the cupola, and closed the season with the same commanding certainty with which he opened it.

The headline events of Douglas Spaulding's unforgettable summer in Green Town.

Dad drives Douglas and Tom to the countryside and draws their attention to the wonders of nature around them.

Douglas and Tom collect dandelions from Grandpa's yard for the annual summer wine-pressing ritual.

Mother takes Tom to search for Douglas near the ravine, and Tom realizes that even adults can be afraid.

Grandpa gives Bill fifteen dollars to throw away the no-mow sod, preserving the summer ritual of lawn mowing.

Leo Auffmann works for ten exhausting days building the Happiness Machine, then faints upon announcing its completion to his family.

Lena Auffmann finally tries the Happiness Machine and discovers it makes her yearn for real life milestones she cannot have.

Tom and two girls visit Mrs. Bentley, disbelieve she was ever young, and walk away with her childhood photograph.

Douglas and Tom compare their summer journals; Tom concludes that old people were never children.

Trolley driver Mr. Tridden takes Douglas and friends on a farewell picnic ride on the trolley's last day of service.

Elmira Brown confronts Clara Goodwater at her home, accusing her of using witchcraft to win the Ladies Lodge presidency.

Elmira falls down the stairs at the lodge meeting; a remorseful Clara engineers Elmira's election as new president.

Colonel Freeleigh secretly calls Mexico City one last time; Douglas and Charlie later find him dead with the phone pressed to his ear.

Douglas and Grandpa bottle 31 jars of July dandelion wine; Douglas worries August will bring no good memories.

Bill Forrester and Helen Loomis meet daily in her garden; she reveals she will die soon and seals a letter for him.

Grandpa bottles the last dandelion wine of the season as summer ends; Douglas and Tom help take down the porch swing.

Pool 2 captures the rich texture of life in Green Town beyond the main plot, following the many neighbors whose stories weave through Douglas's summer. From the Spaulding family's dandelion-collecting rituals to the final farewell ride on the town trolley, these events reveal the slow, bittersweet march of change through a small community. Leo Auffmann's obsessive labor on the Happiness Machine nearly costs him his family, while Lena's moment of clarity reveals what real happiness actually looks like. Mrs. Bentley's encounter with disbelieving children forces her to confront the irretrievability of the past, while the Elmira and Clara feud delivers comic relief amid darker chapters. The season closes with the bottling of the last wine and the taking down of the porch swing, sealing the summer into memory.

The neighborhood adventures and supporting stories that fill out Green Town's summer.

Douglas declares his old tennis shoes are dead inside and cannot properly carry him through the wonders of summer.

Douglas suggests to neighbor Leo Auffmann during an evening stroll that he should invent a Happiness Machine.

After the Happiness Machine burns, Leo announces to his neighbors that his wife and children are his true Happiness Machine.

Colonel Freeleigh delightedly declares himself a Time Machine after the boys reveal the nickname they have given him.

Miss Fern and Miss Roberta accidentally knock over a pedestrian with their electric runabout and hide in their attic in panic.

Colonel Freeleigh's nurse forbids the boys from visiting him and warns that his telephone will be removed the next day.

John Huff fears he will forget Green Town's details, and Douglas promises to remember him but guesses his eye color wrong.

Douglas tells Tom that many lives died alongside Colonel Freeleigh and resolves to record their stories in his journal.

Despite finding a murder victim in the ravine, Lavinia insists on attending the movie that evening and dismisses her own terror.

Charlie insists the man pulled from Lavinia's house looks nothing like the real Lonely One and runs to tell the other kids.

Great-Grandma tells a weeping Douglas that she will always be present in everything the family does.

Douglas releases captive fireflies into the night and writes in his journal that nothing and no one can be depended upon.

Douglas sobs and vomits at a movie theater when a cowboy's death suddenly forces him to realize he too will die.

Douglas and Tom rescue the Tarot Witch from a drunken Mr. Black and retrieve her from the ravine with their father's help.

Bill Forrester receives Helen Loomis's sealed blue envelope at work, confirming that she has died.

Pool 3 traces the emotional and philosophical turning points that reshape Douglas's understanding of the world, revealing the moments when everything quietly shifts. From his idle suggestion that ignites Leo Auffmann's obsession to his devastating realization that he too is mortal, each event marks a new stage in his coming-of-age. The deaths of Colonel Freeleigh and Great-Grandma deepen his grief until he collapses inward, releasing fireflies into the dark and writing that nothing can be trusted to stay. Yet acts of rescue — saving the Tarot Witch, restoring order to Grandma's kitchen — show Douglas learning to fight for the things he loves. By the time Bill Forrester receives Helen Loomis's final letter, the summer has completed its great lesson: that life must be savored in the moment, and memory is the only net that holds it.

The quiet revelations and emotional shifts that define Douglas's inner journey through the summer.