Thi gives birth to her son at New York's Methodist Hospital after a long and painful labor.

Hắng tells Thi that Nam went to the movies rather than attending the hospital during her birth.

Thi decides to document her family's history to bridge the growing distance she feels from her parents.

Hắng and Nam's firstborn daughter Quyên falls ill and dies after only a month of life.

French soldiers massacre Nam's village and adults hide young Nam alone in the forest for days.

Nam enrolls in Teachers College in Sài Gòn to avoid the draft and meets Hắng there.

During the Tết Offensive, Nam is spared by the general depicted in the famous Saigon execution photograph.

Sài Gòn falls to communist forces and Nam loses his job under the new regime.

Hắng secures spots for her entire family on a cargo boat by acting as a paid intermediary.

Nam takes over as the boat's captain and steers the family away from suspected Thai pirates.

The Bui family arrives at the Pulau Besar refugee camp in Malaysia after three days at sea.

Hắng's sister Đao sponsors the family and processes their paperwork quickly, enabling them to leave the camp.

Hắng and her children arrive at Chicago's O'Hare Airport and begin their new life in America.

The Bui family moves from Hammond, Indiana to California to be closer to more family members.

Thi looks at her ten-year-old son and hopes that he will be free of the family's burdens.

Pool 1 follows the most significant turning points in the Bui family's story, from the birth of Thi's son in a New York hospital to the family's harrowing escape from Vietnam. It traces the death of firstborn Quyên, Nam's survival of French colonial violence, and Hắng and Nam's marriage in Sài Gòn. The pool covers the fall of Sài Gòn, the desperate boat escape through pirate-patrolled waters, and the family's arrival at the Pulau Besar refugee camp. After resettlement in Indiana and a move to California, the story closes with Thi watching her son and hoping for his freedom. These headline events form the backbone of the family's multigenerational story.

The Bui family's escape from Vietnam and arrival in America.

Hắng disappears into the hospital hallway during Thi's labor, unable to remain in the delivery room.

Bích runs away from home after Hắng opposes her relationship, prompting Hắng to swallow an entire bottle of pills.

Thi and her siblings travel to Vietnam to meet their paternal grandfather, but their father refuses to join them.

Nam's father beats his wife, throws her out of the house, and abandons Nam with his grandparents forever.

After French massacres and Việt Minh retaliation tear their village apart, Nam's family flees to the city of Hải Phòng.

Hắng's father arranges her transfer to the Lycée Yersin school, where she finds a close group of friends and flourishes.

Nam travels with his grandmother deep into Communist territory to meet his estranged father for the first time.

Nam and his grandfather escape North Vietnam aboard a military landing craft just as the border is sealed.

Nam arrives in Sài Gòn and enjoys life as a bachelor, styling himself after the movie stars of the era.

Nam's estranged father visits unexpectedly after the fall of Sài Gòn and declares he can no longer associate with the family.

Hắng's brother Hải is seized by the government while the family desperately tries to arrange an escape from Vietnam.

Hắng gives birth to Tâm at the Pulau Besar refugee camp while the family waits for resettlement.

An American aid worker named Tom Rivers finds Nam stranded at an airport and reunites him with his family in Indiana.

The Bui family evacuates their California apartment building with their document folders when a fire breaks out nearby.

Thi asks Hắng how she coped after Quyên's death, and Hắng recalls the last smile the baby gave her.

Pool 2 covers significant secondary events that deepen the story without making the top-level headlines. It begins with Hắng's telling inability to stay in the delivery room during Thi's labor and moves through family crises, including Bích's disappearance and Hắng's desperate response. The pool traces Nam's abandonment by his father, the family's flight from a devastated village, and Hắng's formative years in Southern schools. After Nam witnesses poverty in Communist territory and escapes north, the family endures the regime's persecution before finally reaching the refugee camp where Tâm is born. The pool ends with Thi and Hắng sharing a rare tender moment over the memory of Quyên's last smile.

The supporting moments that shaped each member of the Bui family.

Thi realizes with terror that family is now something she has created, not just something she was born into.

Thi discovers her paternal grandfather has been alive in Vietnam all along, despite her father's insistence he had no parents.

Thi moves back to California to be near family and realizes that proximity and closeness are not the same thing.

Nam's grandfather steals a jar of opium and flees with Nam's family into the forests of the North.

Hắng develops Vietnamese nationalist pride and begins asking her classmates not to speak French outside of school.

A young Hắng tells friends she cannot imagine being married, just before she meets and marries Nam.

Nam begins sympathizing with revolutionary anti-colonial politics, to the deep disappointment of his pro-French grandparents.

Hắng admits to Travis that her time at Lycée Yersin was the happiest of her life, before her children existed.

Hắng confesses she married Nam expecting him to die of illness soon, after which she planned to live freely.

After losing Quyên, Hắng and Nam move to the town of Hà Tiên to fill teaching posts and forget their grief.

Nam refuses to allow other passengers to inject his children with Valium to keep them quiet on the boat.

Hắng tells her seasick daughter Lan to look up at Orion's belt from the deck of the escape boat.

Hắng is held at a Malaysian hospital for three days after giving birth while her family struggles at the camp without her.

Thi speaks Vietnamese to her son using the Northern word for mother and realizes Hắng always wanted to be called that.

Thi accepts the impermanence of life and lets go of her longing for a real homeland in Vietnam.

Pool 3 focuses on the interior turning points, decisions, and revelations that define each character's emotional arc. It opens with Thi's terrifying realization that she is now a creator of family rather than merely a product of one, and follows her discovery that her father lied about having no living parents. The pool traces formative moments in Hắng's and Nam's young lives: Hắng's nationalist awakening, her surprising marriage to a man she expected to outlive, and Nam's pivotal choice to flee south after witnessing communism firsthand. On the boat, small acts of care define the escape, and Hắng's three days alone in a Malaysian hospital mark the depth of the family's ordeal. The pool closes with Thi making peace with impermanence and releasing her longing for a homeland.

The revelations and emotional shifts that drive Thi's journey toward understanding.