Frankie meets Zeke at the public pool during a Vaseline-coated watermelon competition.

Frankie and Zeke discover and fix a jammed photocopier hidden in her family's garage.

Frankie writes the poster's strange phrase and Zeke creates an accompanying shantytown drawing.

Frankie and Zeke each cut their fingers and drip blood onto the poster before making copies.

Frankie and Zeke hang sixty-three copies of the poster across Coalfield.

Two classmates fabricate a story of being abducted by van-driving fugitives, igniting a community panic.

A statewide newspaper publishes an article speculating on the poster's origins, drawing widespread attention.

A teenager named Lyle Tawwater dies after falling from a water tower while trying to affix a poster.

Frankie and Zeke travel to Memphis and tape a copy of the poster to Zeke's father's front door.

Zeke's father confronts the teens about the poster, and Zeke physically attacks him before they flee.

A teenager named Casey Ratchet is shot and killed by vigilantes hunting the poster's supposed satanic creators.

Zeke tells Frankie he is returning to Memphis; Frankie trips on the porch stairs and breaks her arm.

Frankie deliberately drives her car into a neighbor's tree; Mr. Avery discovers the posters and promises secrecy.

Frankie meets journalist Mazzy Brower and confirms her authorship by showing the blood-marked original poster.

Frankie visits Zeke in Memphis, learns of his bipolar diagnosis, and agrees to protect his involvement in the poster.

In the summer of 1996, sixteen-year-old Frankie Budge meets Zeke Brown at a public pool and the two quickly bond over their shared status as social outcasts. Using a broken photocopier in her garage, they create a mysterious poster with a strange phrase and drops of their own blood, then distribute copies across Coalfield, Tennessee. The poster ignites a community-wide moral panic, drawing media attention and inspiring dangerous copycats, including the deaths of two teenagers. A trip to Memphis ends in a violent confrontation with Zeke's father, after which Zeke severs their friendship and returns home, leaving Frankie alone to guard their secret. Years later, journalist Mazzy Brower tracks Frankie down with evidence of her authorship, forcing Frankie to decide how to handle the secret's exposure while protecting herself and Zeke. She ultimately confirms her authorship, visits Zeke in Memphis, and the two reach an agreement that finally allows Frankie to make peace with the past.

The headline events of the Coalfield Panic.

Frankie pays her triplet brothers twenty dollars to help Zeke win the watermelon competition at the pool.

Zeke bikes to Frankie's house two days after the pool and they watch horror movies together.

Frankie reveals she is writing a Nancy Drew-style novel; Zeke proposes they devote the summer to making art.

Frankie kisses Zeke for the first time while the two are photocopying their faces side by side.

Frankie's mother meets Zeke at dinner and discovers his mother is a former Juilliard violin prodigy.

Frankie's mother wakes Frankie in the middle of the night and forces her to accept a box of condoms.

Frankie and Zeke make three hundred more poster copies and Zeke purchases a map to track every display location.

Frankie's brothers and mother study a found copy of the poster; their mother mentions a reporter friend plans to write about it.

Frankie and Zeke discover a copycat poster displayed at a location not on their tracking map.

Frankie and Zeke seal rolled-up posters inside soda bottles and leave them around town as time capsules.

Frankie asks her mother's permission to travel to Memphis with Zeke; her mother eventually agrees.

After returning from Memphis, Frankie walks to Zeke's grandmother's house but cannot get Zeke to acknowledge her.

Frankie photocopies the original poster and then her own palm, hoping to read what the future holds.

Frankie finishes her novel and shows it to her mother; Hobart tells Frankie it is okay not to fit in.

Frankie's daughter Junie recites the poster's phrase from memory and insists Frankie spoke it to her as a baby.

Beneath the surface of the Coalfield Panic lie the quieter, more personal moments that shape Frankie's summer with Zeke. From their first real conversations over horror movies and Pop-Tarts to Frankie's first kiss and secret dinners with her mother, their friendship builds through small, intimate exchanges. Their growing obsession with the poster is evident in the hundreds of copies they produce, the maps they use to track locations, and creative experiments like sealing posters inside soda bottles as time capsules, even as copycat versions begin appearing without their involvement. When the summer closes without Zeke, Frankie finds quiet support from her mother and Hobart as she heals and finishes her novel. The story resolves decades later when Frankie's daughter Junie recites the poster's phrase from memory, assuring Frankie that the words she created will endure long after the secret is gone.

The private moments behind the public panic.

Mazzy Brower calls Frankie, recites the poster's phrase, and reveals she believes Frankie caused the Coalfield Panic.

Frankie's mother arrives home unexpectedly and discovers Zeke and Frankie kissing.

Zeke insists their art must be displayed publicly rather than kept private in order to have real meaning.

Frankie refuses Zeke's idea to create a second poster design, insisting the original must remain singular.

A movie theater employee removes the posters on his boss's orders; police are called but remain unconcerned.

Frankie and Zeke spend two hours covering an entire room of an abandoned teen hangout with posters.

Local vigilantes accidentally shoot and injure bystanders while patrolling Coalfield to halt the poster's spread.

Frankie and Zeke watch strangers hanging up their own copycat versions of the poster around town.

Fleeing Memphis, Zeke says he wishes he were dead; Frankie recites the poster's phrase over and over to calm him.

Frankie threatens to expose their authorship; Zeke demands she promise to keep the secret for life.

Frankie wakes in a hospital bed and assures her worried mother the car accident was not a suicide attempt.

Mazzy Brower shows Frankie a letter from Mr. Avery to a fellow artist that names Frankie as the poster's creator.

Frankie tells her husband Aaron she created the Coalfield poster; Aaron is hurt and angry she hid it for years.

Frankie's mother admits she figured out Frankie's role in the poster by noticing the dwindling supply of copier paper.

Zeke teaches Frankie to draw the poster's images so she can claim sole authorship, then speaks the phrase as she leaves.

The novel's emotional turning points hinge on decisions and discoveries that force both Frankie and Zeke to confront the consequences of their creation. From Mazzy Brower's opening phone call to the escalating panic fueled by vigilantes and copycat posters, each shift in the story changes what the poster means and who is responsible for it. The climax in Memphis — Zeke's violent outburst, his wish to be dead, and Frankie's soothing repetition of the phrase — marks the breaking point of their friendship and the moment Frankie truly becomes the poster's sole guardian. In the aftermath, a series of revelations unfolds: Mr. Avery's hidden letter surfaces through Mazzy, Aaron learns the truth for the first time, and Frankie's mother admits she deduced Frankie's role years ago. The story closes with Zeke speaking the phrase aloud as Frankie drives away from Memphis, giving her the closure she has quietly sought for decades.