Meet Me in the Garden

Al is laid off from his job at the Columbia pressing plant in a union-busting move. Bernard, as the personnel manager, is present during the dismissal, which creates a deep rift between the brothers and ends the family’s tradition of Sunday dinners. Al quickly finds a new job working for music producer Dootsie Williams at the Dooto Music Center. The family tensions worsen when Claire announces she and Bernard are planning to move out of Compton and into a new, majority-white development.

Meanwhile, Clément and Nathalie are now high school seniors and have become more distant from her as they focus on their own lives. Elise returns from a trip to announce she and Espen are opening an art gallery in Los Angeles. They want to launch it with a show in New York featuring Odette’s work and select five of her paintings.

A year after Lionel fled, Al visits Odette. He shares a traumatic story from their childhood during the Depression, when he and Lionel were forced to wring the necks of the pigeons that had been roosting in their attic for the family’s Christmas dinner. Odette confesses to Al that she is in love with Ginny, and Al admits he already knew. He also reveals that he and Felix had a brief physical relationship when they were younger.

Shortly after, Ginny quits her job at the plant and invites Odette to a party, where Odette learns Ginny has broken up with Pamela. Odette is also reintroduced to a friend from the past, Marty (formerly Mare), who is transgender, and his wife, Rose. The evening culminates with Ginny referencing a romantic scene from the film Cléo from 5 to 7 and telling Odette “That’s how my whole life feels, with you” (321).

Odette and Ginny begin spending quiet time together, slowly building a relationship as they share stories from their pasts. Ginny tells Odette about growing up working in her family’s restaurant, and Odette tells Ginny that Delphine is still alive somewhere and that their separation is a source of constant grief for her. 

One night, Clément and Nathalie reveal to Odette that Hattie lives openly with a woman named Estelle. They also confess that years ago, Felix secretly arranged to meet with them on the train during one of their summer trips. Their honesty prompts Odette to tell her children about her first love with Hattie. She ends the conversation by telling them that they should never have to hide who they are.

Claire and Bernard move into their new house, where they immediately have a racist encounter with their next-door neighbors. Bernard confronts the neighbors and tells them that they’re Black. When a distraught Claire comes to Odette for comfort, Odette repeats Delphine’s old advice: “What does it matter, really, what anybody thinks of us?” (332). However, the words offer no solace to Claire. 

Later, Nathalie mentions that she does not remember a funeral for Delphine, and Odette’s wordless reaction inadvertently reveals that Delphine is not dead. Nathalie screamed that Odette has lied to her for her entire life. Devastated by the deception, she and Clément leave the house together, leaving Odette heartbroken.

Nathalie demands that Odette take her to find the “moon room,” the last place she remembers being with her mother. Their search leads them to the attic of the laundromat where Odette found Nathalie. There, Odette discovers a series of gouges carved into a windowsill, which resemble the marks Delphine left on the tree outside her and Bill’s old home. The discovery offers no comfort to Nathalie. She screams at Odette, “You stole me!” (338). Odette furiously retorts that Nathalie has no idea what she sacrificed, but that she would do it all again for her. Later, back home, a fragile calm is reached, and Odette tells Nathalie and Clément the full story of Delphine’s mental illness and the threat that forced her to lie. That evening, Elise calls from New York with the news that all five of Odette’s paintings sold on the opening night of the gallery show.

Following her children’s high school graduation, Odette comes out as a lesbian to her sisters; Adele is supportive, but Claire is resistant. Clément and Nathalie then move into their first apartment. Shortly after, Ginny finds a stray puppy she names Holiday, but her landlord forbids pets. Seizing the opportunity, Odette asks Ginny to move in with her. Ginny and Holiday move in with Odette, and their new life together begins. Odette starts a new painting of a nude Ginny in the garden, which she titles Marriage Bed Number Two. On her final day at the plant, Bernard tells Odette he is glad she has found happiness with Ginny and accepts their relationship.

Two years later, in August 1965, Odette receives a letter from Delphine, who is living in San Francisco and wants to see her and Nathalie. Before they can process the news, the Watts Uprising erupts nearby. Odette’s home becomes a safe haven for the entire family as well as their neighbor Maurice and a young man named Desmond. Amidst the chaos, Lionel returns to Los Angeles. As the uprising intensifies, the family members who venture out, including Rudy, share stories of looting, community solidarity, and deadly police violence. The family is divided when Claire calls to express her disgust with those she calls rioters. The turmoil prompts Nathalie to have a conversation with Odette, Adele, and Ginny, in which she asks, “Am I colored?” (360). Odette explains that Nathalie is Black whether or not the outside world sees who for she is, and she connects her daughter’s experience of being misunderstood to her own queer identity.

Once the uprising ends, Odette and Nathalie drive to San Francisco to meet Delphine for dinner. The reunion is painfully awkward; Delphine is overwhelmed with anxiety, gives Nathalie a letter, and leaves abruptly. Later that night, Delphine comes to their inn to speak with Odette alone. She explains that she has a mental illness that causes delusions and that she now lives a stable life with her chosen family, her flatmates Mary Beth and Pascal. Her greatest fear is that Nathalie has inherited her condition, and she makes Odette promise to contact her at the first sign of trouble. As Delphine describes her apartment in the Haight-Ashbury, Odette sketches it. The next morning, at Delphine’s suggestion, Odette and Nathalie visit the Conservatory of Flowers before driving home.

Back in Los Angeles, Odette begins working on a massive canvas inspired by Delphine’s apartment and her own life, which she titles Meet Me in the Garden. Ginny asks Odette to have a commitment ceremony officiated by an ex-priest, and Odette agrees. She calls Hattie, who insists on designing a dress for the occasion. During the call, Odette asks for Felix’s contact information. He later delivers the dress from Hattie’s “Studio Laurent,” and he and Odette reconcile.

The ceremony is held in the garden, attended by friends and family. To Ginny’s astonishment and joy, her mother attends. Claire, Bernard, and Sebastian arrive late but are welcomed warmly. Lionel gives a toast comparing Odette and Ginny’s love to the lifelong fidelity of pigeons. Afterward, the guests admire Odette’s finished painting, a vast dreamscape that weaves together images of Delphine’s apartment with symbols and memories from Odette’s life, including a portrait of her father. The story concludes with Odette surrounded by her family, at peace with her past and her identity as an artist.