Doc Wagner informs Ben that he has a rare blood disease and only one year to live.

Ben refuses all treatment and demands that Doc keep his diagnosis completely secret from everyone.

Ben agrees to see therapist Marla Dawson regularly as the condition of Doc keeping his secret.

Ben surprises everyone by joining the Trout Cougars football team despite having a slight runner's build.

Ben and Dallas meet at The Chief restaurant, where she surprises him by asking him to homecoming.

Ben and Dallas attend the homecoming dance together and have sex afterward at her house.

Marla leaves a note on her office door telling Ben she can no longer work with him.

Dallas reveals to Ben that her uncle sexually abused her when she was a child.

Dallas tells Ben that her four-year-old brother Joe Henry is actually her son, born from her uncle's assault.

Ben reveals his terminal condition to Rudy and proposes a deal for them to support each other.

Ben confesses his terminal illness to Coach Banks, who is shocked but promises to support him.

Ben tells Dallas the truth about his illness, and she becomes angry and forces him to leave.

Ben tells Cody the full truth about his terminal diagnosis during a conversation at lunch.

Ben finds Rudy dead in the garage with a note addressed to him and calls the police.

Cody reads Ben's graduation speech aloud to the school after Ben dies before reaching graduation.

Ben Wolf's senior year is upended when his doctor reveals he has a terminal blood disease and only one year to live. He refuses treatment, demands secrecy, and throws himself into living as fully as possible — joining the football team and pursuing his longtime crush Dallas Suzuki. As his relationships deepen, keeping the truth from those he loves begins to cost him more than he expected. One by one, Ben opens up to Rudy, Coach, Dallas, and Cody, accepting both the pain and the liberation that honesty brings. Rudy's death and Ben's fading health mark the novel's final descent, but his voice carries forward when Cody delivers his graduation speech to the school.

After receiving his diagnosis, Ben goes for a run to think through what he has just been told.

Doc takes Ben to a specialist in Denver who recommends immediate, aggressive treatment for his condition.

Ben begins having dream conversations with a figure called Hey-Soos, who offers life advice and wisdom.

Ben starts raising ideas from The Autobiography of Malcolm X in Lambeer's government class, sparking arguments.

Ben visits Rudy McCoy at the car garage and leaves vitamins for him despite Rudy's resistance.

Ben's mom has a manic episode on homecoming night and Cody offers to stay home and help.

Ben visits Rudy again and is surprised to learn that Rudy used to be a Catholic priest.

Before the Horseshoe Bend game, Ben and Cody learn that Boomer drunkenly caused Sooner's collarbone injury.

The Cougars win the Horseshoe Bend game after Ben makes an impressive pass that stuns the crowd.

Coach takes his English class outside and burns a copy of The Autobiography of Malcolm X to make a point.

Rudy confesses to Ben that he molested a child as a priest and that his victim later died by suicide.

Ben has a confrontational first session with new therapist Alex Wells, who threatens to report him.

Ben tells Lambeer's entire class that he is dying, silencing the room after a heated argument.

The school learns that Ben's teammate Sooner Cowan has died in a car accident.

Cody and Dallas spot a handmade Malcolm X Avenue sign while running together after Ben's death.

After learning of his diagnosis, Ben embarks on a year of purposeful discovery — reading widely, forming unlikely friendships, and competing in football. His dream guide Hey-Soos helps him process the experience, while his growing bond with Rudy McCoy deepens through shared conversations about politics, history, and life. On the field, Ben helps the Cougars win a key game, and off it, he navigates a community resistant to change. Rudy's devastating confession and eventual death by suicide force Ben to confront the fragility of life in a way his own illness never quite had. Sooner's accidental death deepens that reckoning, and the novel closes with a quiet, hopeful sign that Ben's legacy is beginning to take root in Trout.

The friendships, discoveries, and losses that shaped Ben's year.

Coach Banks meets with Ben and asks why he wants to play football; Ben says he wants a new experience.

After his first night with Dallas, Ben drives to the lake alone to reflect on everything happening in his life.

Lambeer assigns the civics project to the class and immediately clashes with Ben over The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

Hey-Soos tells Ben he is the only person Dallas has confided in and urges Ben to be honest with her.

Ben's dad confronts him about sex; Ben asks whether his dad plans to leave their mother when the boys go to college.

Sooner makes a racist remark to Timberline's two Indigenous captains before the championship game, upsetting everyone.

Rudy throws Ben out of the garage while drunk, and Ben responds by smashing all of Rudy's liquor bottles.

Ben tells Lambeer he will complete the Malcolm X project even if it costs him a failing grade.

During a run, Ben collapses in the snow and cries, realizing for the first time that he is feeling anxiety.

On Christmas Eve, Cody daydreams aloud during a run about their future playing football together in college.

After telling Dallas the truth about his illness, Ben goes for a run in the snow to process her reaction.

Ben reads Rudy's suicide note, in which Rudy apologizes for breaking his promise and asks Ben to keep his secret.

Ben gathers his parents in his mom's bedroom and tells them about his terminal diagnosis; his mother sobs silently.

Dallas sneaks into Sooner's funeral and quietly takes the empty seat beside Ben without saying a word.

Marla visits the bedridden Ben to apologize for abandoning him; Dallas then arrives and the two reconcile.

Pool 3 traces the key moments of reckoning that push Ben to examine his choices and grow through his final year. From early conversations with Coach and a solitary night of reflection at the lake, to the secrets Dallas and Rudy entrust him with, Ben is constantly confronted with the cost of his own secrecy. His fear and anxiety surface in moments of crisis — collapsing in the snow, smashing Rudy's bottles, defying his teacher — while quieter scenes with Cody remind him what he stands to lose by staying silent. When Ben finally begins telling the truth, the pain and freedom it brings arrive together. The pool closes with reconciliation at his bedside, where the love he spent the year building finds its way back to him.