Meg is initially wary of Birdie, but her attitude changes when Birdie starts sneaking her biscuits from the Tartt house. Meg tells Birdie about the cannery work program, where her friend Ava has already been sent, and repeats Garnett’s phrase that it is a “wonderful opportunity.” As the office gets oppressively hot, Birdie pries a board off the boarded-up window to let in fresh air, hiding her handiwork when Frances objects.

Birdie and Meg develop a daily routine of sharing biscuits and reading the newspaper before Garnett arrives. Birdie explores the rest of the orphanage and finds the kitchen dirty and the food poor; the cook, Lucinda, says Garnett does not let her feed the girls anything good because it will “spoil” them, and that things have changed ever since Garnett came on, though she chooses not to elaborate on this. When a stomach bug sends most volunteers home, Birdie takes the opportunity to thoroughly clean the mold from the office walls with Meg’s help.

The next day, Birdie uses money she found in the budget to buy paint and, over Frances’s protests that she is violating protocol, she and Meg paint the dreary office a cheerful blue. During their work, Meg reveals she was once so hungry she tried to eat a book she called “You Liss Sees.” Another volunteer, Miss Mildred, tells Birdie that about a year and a half ago, when Garnett became chairlady, she implemented cruel changes, such as separating the girls and stopping their mail. Birdie inwardly notes this must have been just after Meg arrived.

Garnett returns to the orphanage and is visibly angered by the freshly painted office and unboarded window, but must feign approval. Birdie confronts Garnett with the account books, noting that funding for the older girls has been drastically cut and diverted to the work program. When Meg asks about the girls’ pay, Birdie learns it too goes toward board and lodging until they turn 16, meaning the girls receive nothing for their labor. With the bookkeeping assignment complete, Garnett dismisses Birdie for the week. Before leaving, Birdie encourages a despairing Meg to try to get adopted at the upcoming View Day and coaxes her into sharing a few positive memories of her mother.

Once Birdie is gone, Garnett’s cruelty escalates. After a visit from a state inspector, she nails the office window shut again and confines Meg to the room for all her meals. Meg finally confronts Garnett, who slaps her and calls her a “mistake.” When Meg angrily taunts Garnett that she is jealous because her own baby died, Garnett spitefully tells Meg her mother abandoned her to starve just before Christmas because she hated her. Isolated and devastated, Meg is shunned by the other girls and prays for “something better.”

To attract more potential parents on View Day, Meg secretly alters the orphanage’s informational cards to falsely state that ten infants are available. The plan works, and an unusually large crowd arrives. After one couple adopts a baby and another is steered away from the older girls by Garnett, a crude man and woman show interest in Meg for farm work. Frances saves her by lying that Meg is already spoken for. A kind couple, the Smiths, then speak with Meg, and she feels a flicker of hope. However, Garnett intervenes and persuades them to adopt a younger girl instead.

As the day ends, a wealthy and stylish woman, Lucille, arrives with her husband, Tom, looking for a baby. Finding none left, she considers the older girls. When her first choice, Ginny, picks her nose, Lucille turns to Meg. Garnett tries to block the adoption by claiming Meg is destined for the work program and has behavioral problems. Miss Mildred counters by reading the asylum’s rules, which prioritize adoption. The process stalls when the couple admits they lack the required paperwork, but Tom produces a business card that impresses the inspector, who recognizes Tom as a Yale man and notes that Dr. Welty Pittman, Garnett’s husband, is also a Yale alumnus; Tom mentions his brother Nick knew the doctor from their class of 1913. Impressed, the inspector immediately approves the adoption, overriding a furious Garnett. As Meg is leaving, Miss Mildred remarks that Dr. Pittman was the man who brought a starving Meg to the orphanage years ago. From the car, Meg gives Garnett the middle finger before being driven away.

While preparing to paint the upstairs ceiling at the orphanage, Birdie is confronted by a woman in a tattered yellow dress: Meg’s mother, Charlie Lefleur. Charlie is distraught to learn Meg has been adopted. She reveals she did not abandon her daughter; she was arrested and sent to the state colony at Ellisville for two years, was released two weeks ago, and came straight to the orphanage, only to learn she had missed Meg by three days. Birdie, though conflicted, agrees to consider helping and arranges to meet Charlie at the Tartt house in a few days.

That evening, while Rory and Frances are out to celebrate Frances’s birthday, Birdie drinks bourbon for the first time with Mrs. Tartt. Mrs. Tartt reveals her dislike for Garnett, whom she calls a “hypocrite,” and notes that Garnett was elected chairlady about a year and a half ago, a month after Christmas before last. Birdie remembers this as being around the same time that Meg arrived at the orphanage. Birdie gets drunk and passes out in a bathroom.

The next morning, Frances is devastated because Rory was impotent the night before, and she fears he is having an affair. She agrees to ask him for the family loan that Sunday.

Birdie learns the house staff, Picador and Polly, have not been paid in three weeks. Meanwhile, she reads a newspaper article quoting Garnett’s speech about the moral failings of “feebleminded” mothers. That evening, Mrs. Tartt and Frances confront Rory about the unpaid wages and their overdue allowances. After a tense argument, Rory relents, promising to pay everyone on Friday and telling the women to go on a shopping spree the next day and charge it to their account.

The next morning, Rory drops them at Neilson’s department store, where Frances spends over $60 on clothing. Mrs. Tartt asks Birdie to accompany her to the Bank of Lafayette County to get cash to pay the staff. There, a bank manager, Jack Walsh, informs them that Rory was fired three weeks ago. The bank president, Mr. Allison, confirms the news and reveals that Rory lost the family’s entire fortune through reckless investments and took out a massive, overdue mortgage on the house. Their only remaining asset is $36.

On the drive home, Frances, unaware of the family’s financial ruin, chatters about her expensive new clothes. At the house, they find the Studebaker gone and the rooms stripped of all valuables; all the silver, paintings, jewelry, and rare books have been stolen. While Frances believes they have been robbed, Mrs. Tartt suspects Rory is responsible. Birdie is forced to tell a disbelieving Frances that Rory was fired and lost all their money.

Their fears are confirmed when they find Rory’s boyhood bedroom, where he had secretly been living in squalor, filled with rotting food and unopened mail. Frances collapses in shock. Later, while Frances is passed out drunk, Mrs. Tartt reveals a long-held secret to Birdie: Rory is gay. When her husband, Henry, first discovered this, he took Rory to see a woman south of Memphis, but when he caught Rory again afterward, he sent him to a hospital in New Orleans for five months of brutal conversion therapy. Henry also changed his will so Rory would receive no property or money if he did not marry before age 25.

Rory does not return home. The next morning, Mrs. Tartt’s lawyer confirms they have no other assets besides the house deed. With no money to pay her, Mrs. Tartt tearfully lets Picador go.

The electricity at Idlewilde is shut off for nonpayment. With no gas for the stove, Birdie is forced to cook over the open hearth. Birdie finally tells a grieving Mrs. Tartt and Frances about the foreclosure notice and their two stark options: sell the house or sell all its contents by the September 15 deadline. Mrs. Tartt refuses to sell the home her family has owned since 1847 and chooses to sell its contents instead.

An antiques dealer named Mr. Fauster gives them low offers for their valuables. In one frantic afternoon, they sell nearly everything of value. Even after selling Mrs. Tartt’s pearls and forcing Frances to give up her engagement ring, they are still over $200 short of what they owe. The house is left bare.

That evening, Birdie, Frances, Mrs. Tartt, and Charlie eat together for the first time. Later, Charlie and Birdie share a stolen cigarette on the back porch, and Charlie states she would risk anything to get Meg back.

Life without electricity becomes a daily struggle at Idlewilde. Birdie manages the cooking and chores over the open hearth, while Frances remains helpless and Mrs. Tartt is lost in memories. On Monday, Birdie fails to persuade the power company to accept a partial payment. Charlie proves indispensable, cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, and doing laundry. A bond forms between Charlie and Mrs. Tartt, who gives Charlie a wardrobe of her old dresses to alter for herself.

That night, after a meager supper, a cool breeze brings the first relief from the oppressive heat. Birdie resolves to go to the bank the next day to negotiate for more time. She and Charlie smoke on the porch, where Charlie reaffirms her commitment to finding Meg, and Birdie promises she will figure something out to help.