A man jumps from a ship off the Queen of France coast and boards a smaller vessel heading out to sea.

Sydney discovers a stranger hiding in Margaret's closet and leads him into the dining room at gunpoint.

Valerian offers the captured stranger a drink and decides to let him stay despite the household's protests.

Valerian sends Son to Queen of France for a haircut, where Gideon tells him the legend of les chevaliers.

Son and Jadine picnic on the beach, where Son reveals he left Eloe after accidentally killing his wife in a car fire.

Jadine wanders into a forest swamp and sinks into the muck, barely pulling herself free by climbing a tree trunk.

Michael fails to arrive for Christmas, devastating Margaret and forcing Ondine to step in and finish the holiday meal.

Ondine reveals during the Christmas dinner fight that Margaret physically abused Michael with pins and cigarettes as a child.

Valerian retreats to his greenhouse and judges himself guilty of willful ignorance for never noticing his son's childhood abuse.

Son and Jadine begin a passionate romantic relationship after reuniting in New York City.

Son convinces Jadine to visit Eloe, Florida, where she feels deeply out of place among his community and family.

Jadine is haunted by visions of judging women surrounding the bed during her night at Rosa's house in Eloe.

Son and Jadine's relationship turns violent in New York, ending when Jadine calls off the relationship after their worst fight.

Jadine leaves Son and travels back to Isle des Chevaliers before departing for Paris to resume her independent life.

Thérèse rows Son to the back of Isle des Chevaliers and tells him to choose between pursuing Jadine or joining les chevaliers.

Tar Baby opens with a mysterious fugitive who sneaks onto the private island estate of Valerian Street, where he is discovered hiding in a closet and unexpectedly allowed to stay. The fugitive, who calls himself Son, becomes entangled with Jadine Childs, a model and the niece of the household's Black butler and cook. After the chaos of a Christmas dinner that exposes long-buried family secrets, Son and Jadine flee to New York City and fall deeply in love. Their relationship fractures when they visit Son's hometown of Eloe, where Jadine feels judged and alienated by the women in his world. Back in New York, their fights grow violent as each tries to reshape the other, and Jadine ultimately ends the relationship and flees to France. Son pursues her to the Caribbean, where a local woman rows him to the island and forces him to choose between love and legend.

Ondine discovers that chocolate and bottled water are going missing from the house's second kitchen.

In Paris, Jadine follows a beautiful woman in a yellow dress who turns and spits at her in the street.

Valerian recalls building his family's candy company, committing to retire at 65, and first spotting Margaret in a Maine winter parade.

Margaret recalls how her red hair isolated her from her family and how she struggled to adjust to Valerian's wealthy world.

Valerian and Margaret fight bitterly at dinner over whether Michael will come for Christmas, and Margaret storms out of the dining room.

Sydney is furious that Valerian placed the trespassing stranger in the guest room, conferring on him a status above the household staff.

Jadine shows Ondine the coat made from ninety baby seal pelts that her Parisian suitor Ryk sent as a Christmas gift.

Son takes a shower in Jadine's room for the first time since jumping ship, thinking about what drew him to stay at the house.

Jadine forces Son to formally apologize to Sydney and Ondine for the stress and disruption his presence caused the household.

Jadine books a flight off the island after the holidays, intending to return her Paris life to normal.

Christmas Eve brings a temporary peace to L'Arbe de la Croix, with Valerian and Margaret reconciling after weeks of conflict.

Margaret approaches Ondine seeking forgiveness after the Christmas dinner revelation, and Ondine tells her it is almost too late.

Margaret tells Valerian that Michael sent cables explaining his absence from Christmas but that the messages never reached the house.

Valerian falls so ill after the Christmas revelation that Sydney must open his mail and feed him in the greenhouse.

On the flight to France, Jadine looks down at the island below and imagines her future life as a self-sufficient queen ant.

Pool 2 traces the quieter undercurrents of life at L'Arbe de la Croix, beginning with small signs of intrusion—missing food and water—that hint at a hidden presence in the house. It follows Jadine's reflections on her Paris life and what drew her to the island, and Valerian and Margaret's individual memories of how their pasts brought them to this remote place. The tensions within the household build through conflicts over status and belonging, as Son's presence upsets the carefully maintained social order and forces each resident to take sides. After the Christmas dinner catastrophe, Valerian's health deteriorates while Margaret begins a painful reckoning with her past, and Sydney and Ondine face deep disappointment in those they have served and loved. The pool closes with Jadine's departure for France, leaving everyone behind and imagining herself as a queen ant who answers to no one.

The household's secrets and daily tensions.

The fugitive hides on a smaller boat and wakes to find himself in deeper waters with an all-women crew.

Son secretly watches Jadine sleep during his nights hidden in the house, becoming captivated by her beauty.

Son confronts Jadine coming out of her shower, grabs her, smells her, and releases her when she threatens to report him.

Jadine finds Valerian already laughing with Son in the greenhouse after going to report Son's assault against her.

Valerian decides to keep Son at the house because he did not believe Margaret and does not want to appear wrong.

Son tells Valerian his name is Willie Green and admits he meant to be in Jadine's room, not Margaret's closet.

Son tells Jadine he loves her during their beach picnic; she withdraws her feet in fear after his confession about killing his wife.

Son challenges Valerian at Christmas dinner over firing Gideon and Thérèse for stealing apples; Jadine sides with Valerian, bewildering Son.

Jadine asks Son to sleep beside her after the Christmas dinner fight, repeatedly insisting there will be no sex.

Margaret confesses to Valerian that infant Michael's dependence on her drove her to abuse him and that she stopped only when he could resist.

Son visits his father in Eloe, who reveals Son's real name is Franklin Green and that his ex-mother-in-law waited with a shotgun to kill him.

Son fails to return from Eloe as promised; when he finally does, the couple begins a cycle of violent fights.

Son and Jadine agree to marry and for Son to attend school; Jadine fills out school applications on his behalf.

Ondine urges Jadine to care for family out of love rather than obligation; Jadine refuses and leaves the island.

Son finds the Eloe photographs Jadine left behind in their apartment, and his idealized image of his hometown completely fades.

Pool 3 focuses on the pivotal moments of revelation and decision that alter the course of every character's life, beginning with Son's risky hidden existence on the boat and inside the house before he is discovered. It tracks the charged confrontation when Jadine first discovers Son in her room, the shift when Valerian chooses to shelter rather than expose him, and Son's careful construction of a false identity to secure his place in the household. Key scenes capture Son and Jadine's first admissions of feeling—his confession of love, her request that he share her bed—alongside the dramatic Christmas dinner where old loyalties fracture and long-kept secrets burst into the open. The aftermath of Margaret's revelation is explored through her painful private confession to Valerian, while Son's visit to Eloe uncovers his real name and the danger he still faces at home. The pool ends with the gradual dissolution of Son and Jadine's relationship: their failed attempt at a shared future, Jadine's refusal of family obligation, and Son's shattering reckoning with the photographs that destroy his nostalgia.