Birdie, Charlie, and Flossy spend the day rebuilding and leveling the backyard dance floor. During a break, Flossy reveals that her uncle forced her into sex work at age 12 to spare her younger sister from the same fate.

Later, Birdie receives a return call from Isabelle Heidelberg, the elder Mrs. Heidelberg and Tom’s mother. Isabelle is irate, explaining that her son and his wife were supposed to adopt an infant with a good pedigree from a prestigious Memphis agency, not an older child from the county orphanage. She declares Meg unsuitable for the family and says she will recommend her son return her. When Birdie pleads on Meg’s behalf, Mrs. Heidelberg mentions she knows Dr. Welty Pittman and intends to contact him to resolve the matter. Horrified, Birdie realizes she has escalated the crisis and fears Welty’s involvement will lead to Meg’s return to Garnett’s custody and the cannery work program. She leaves a follow-up message with the Heidelbergs to buy more time and resolves to keep this development from Charlie.

By Thursday, the cat-call advertisement has run, and interviews are held on the front porch. A secretary arrives by mistake and is politely dismissed. A coarse and aggressive woman from Flossy’s past, Ruby Slipper, is hired despite her hostility. A woman who has syphilis is gently turned away, leaving the household shaken. Identical twins from Texas, Trixie and Dixie, are hired as a pair after admitting they prefer to work together. That evening, Birdie cooks a large Southern supper for the full household. Charlie persuades Birdie that they should hire Mrs. Tartt’s driver, Mr. Binny, to play music and ensure his silence about the business.

On Friday morning, as the first trainloads of students arrive in Oxford for the fall term, the household prepares to advertise the club. Esmeralda, who had visited the previous day and left abruptly after finding the house too shabby, returns wearing a stained dress and asks to be hired; Charlie takes her on after brief negotiations.

The women borrow dresses from Frances’s and Mrs. Tartt’s wardrobes to look inconspicuous, and Esmeralda drives the group to town to hand out calling cards to college boys. Against Charlie’s explicit instructions to stay away from the depot, Flossy convinces Esmeralda to drive there; the women nearly attract the stationmaster’s attention and flee back to the car.

Meanwhile, Birdie goes to the bank to postpone a date with Jack Walsh, arranging instead to attend church with him on Sunday. In the bank lobby, she encounters Dr. Welty Pittman and is unsettled by how strongly he resembles Meg. Outside, he confronts Birdie privately, insisting she stop contacting the Heidelbergs, while also revealing that he has been trying to persuade the family not to return Meg. Back at the house, Birdie finds Mr. Binny has agreed to play. Esmeralda reports the depot near-miss and presses Charlie to make a formal arrangement with the sheriff.

Late in the afternoon, a young woman named Virginia Cunningham arrives in place of the elderly Dr. Kleinkamp, explaining that his testing methods are unreliable and that he is too fearful of the Anti-Vice League to come to Idlewilde. Virginia sets up a makeshift laboratory in the cellar with equipment borrowed from the university, examines Ruby, and tests Flossy for syphilis. Flossy, who is terrified of a positive result, weeps with relief when she is cleared. The women decorate the yard, and Esmeralda paints a coded menu disguising the services on offer; she jokingly suggests naming the club “The Tart Club,” a proposal Birdie immediately rejects.

The club’s opening night on Saturday gets off to an ominous start as gusty storm winds knock glass ornaments off the trees. After hours of waiting with Mr. Binny playing to an empty yard, only one potential customer appears: a pale, terrified young man who approaches Birdie’s table, freezes, and then flees after his departing taxi, leaving without buying a single dance. No further customers arrive.

At midnight, Charlie and Birdie sit alone in the dining room, staring at each other over the empty ledger. Birdie finally tells Charlie the full truth she has been withholding: Garnett is actively working to have Meg returned to the orphanage, and the elder Mrs. Heidelberg is considering it after Birdie’s own phone call inadvertently alarmed her. Birdie recounts her conversations with both Isabelle Heidelberg and Welty Pittman, who confronted her outside the bank. Charlie is furious that Birdie withheld this information. Birdie explains she feared Charlie would act recklessly and get them all arrested, but Charlie insists that Birdie has underestimated her.

Tom and Lucille take Meg to a tense supper at the elder Heidelbergs’ estate. Mrs. Heidelberg probes Lucille about her new dress and makes pointed references to Meg’s origins, hinting at her suspicions about the adoption from the orphanage. Tom eases the atmosphere by revealing he is writing a novel and tearfully expressing how much Meg has changed him for the better, visibly moving both his parents.

The next morning, Willy May summons Meg alone to the big house. Mrs. Heidelberg confronts Meg about having lied about her origins, but tells her she will not be returned. She reveals that she has been sending Willy May to search the house for liquor, believing that Tom is still experiencing alcohol addiction. She enlists Meg as a secret informant: If either Tom or Lucille drinks, Meg is to come and tell her. Trapped, Meg agrees to the arrangement. She lies to Mrs. Heidelberg’s face, claiming there is no drinking in the house, and is dismissed to the parlor to be fitted for school dresses.

Meg continues in the uneasy aftermath of her meeting with Mrs. Heidelberg. When Lucille asks why she was called to the big house, Meg deflects by claiming she was only there to fit a new dress.

Willy May invites Meg to go with her cousins shopping for school supplies at the Little store. Tom persuades a reluctant Lucille to go along. At the store, Meg carefully selects her school supplies within their tight budget while Lucille struggles to maintain a civil facade with the hostile cousin-wives Sarah and Rowena. The trip ends badly when Marybeth attempts to give Meg a baby doll, and Marybeth’s mother makes a contemptuous remark about Lucille, triggering a public argument between them.

On the drive home, Lucille drinks from a bottle hidden under the seat and warns Meg never to trust the Heidelbergs. That evening, Mrs. Heidelberg arrives unannounced with a copy of Meg’s adoption papers, proving that Tom and Lucille lied about using the Memphis agency and spent the adoption money, some of which went to cover Tom’s gambling debts. Mrs. Heidelberg refuses to reinstate their family allowance and leaves in anger. Tom, Lucille, and Meg sit together on the sofa in silence. Later, Tom rests his hand briefly on the liquor cabinet key but does not open it, and Meg watches with relief as he retreats to his typewriter.

After the failed opening night of their brothel, Birdie and Charlie find their bond deepened despite their mutual deceptions. The household gathers for breakfast, and the women strategize on how to drive business. Virginia suggests they target the socially awkward “Last Resort” students near campus.

That afternoon, Birdie prepares for her Sunday church date with Jack Walsh, prompting Flossy and Esmeralda to voluntarily give her an unasked-for makeover. At church, Birdie learns that Garnett Pittman has been elected president of the state Anti-Vice League. Afterward, Birdie and Jack go to his apartment, where their intimacy escalates before Birdie stops, reasoning that her innocence will be easier to defend if Jack ever learns about her connection to the brothel. Jack then reveals he is returning to Jackson the next day and does not know when he will come back.

On Monday night, the club has another discouraging evening with only two customers. Letters arrive for Birdie: one from Frances in Jackson saying that she is nearly out of money, and one from Birdie’s mother reporting that Birdie’s job at the Foote has been given to someone else and the family owes $12 to the store. A letter addressed to Charlie reveals she has preemptively registered Meg for sixth grade at a California school; Birdie criticizes her when it becomes clear that Charlie has no real plan for getting Meg back.

The rain that has been threatening finally arrives, canceling any hope of business for the next two nights. Charlie copes with her anxiety by diligently doing house chores. She gathers the women for “teatime,” during which the sex workers are asked to drink a substance that will control their menstruation. To distract them, Virginia reads aloud from a medical textbook about the absurdity of diagnosing women with “hysteria,” provoking dark laughter around the table. The group debates names for the club, cycling through increasingly profane options that include “The Calamity Club” before settling on Ruby’s invention, “The See You Next Tuesday Club.” A delivery boy brings Birdie a telegram from Frances, urging her to call them for important news about Rory.

Birdie calls Frances in Jackson, who tells her that Rory was spotted heading south to Gulfport. Frances urges Birdie to send them money to continue their search, forcing Birdie to reluctantly promise her $10. This turns Frances hopeful that business at the dance club is doing well. Frances asks discreet questions about the girls working at the club since Mrs. Tartt is in the room with her, listening in. When Mrs. Tartt grabs the phone from Frances, Birdie diverts the conversation, asking if she knows the Heidelberg family in Byhalia. Mrs. Tartt confirms that she does, but is less familiar with Tom, linking him to a son of the family who was experiencing alcohol addiction in New York City. Before they hang up, Birdie instructs Frances to warn her before they return home so that she can restore the house to its earlier state.

That evening, Virginia brings crucial news: a car full of drunk students crashed returning from Priscilla’s rival brothel in Sweetwater, and the university’s Morals Committee has threatened expulsion for any student caught driving in that direction. With Priscilla’s now effectively off-limits, the club stands as the only safe option for miles.

On Thursday evening, the club’s fortunes dramatically change. A truck full of college boys arrives from the back road, followed by a stream of taxis. Ruby pushes Mr. Binny into playing a rousing jitterbug that livens up the yard.

The night becomes chaotic and overwhelmingly busy, with over two dozen boys cycling through the dance floor and the rooms upstairs. Birdie manages her telephone table, selling drinks and collecting dimes, though the evening is not without ugliness: She witnesses a fraternity pledge being bullied into going upstairs against his will, and a drunk boy punches her in the arm before being dragged off by his friends.

Near closing time, Birdie notices a lone figure parked in the dark across the road watching the house; Charlie tells her to do nothing about it. After the last customers leave around two in the morning, Charlie and Birdie count the night’s earnings. The take is large enough to cover Birdie’s back taxes and make a meaningful dent in the amount Charlie and Mrs. Tartt need. Faced with a mountain of badly soiled sheets, Birdie suggests bringing in Mrs. Tartt’s maids, Picador and Polly, to help with the laundry, but insists they must not be told the true nature of the business. Charlie is skeptical they can keep the secret, but agrees to Birdie’s terms.

With a private telephone line now installed, business grows steadily as grown men begin booking longer, more expensive appointments alongside the college boys. When Picador and Polly arrive to help with the laundry, they quickly and quietly deduce the truth, much to Birdie’s embarrassment.

The household holds a birthday celebration for Flossy. During the party, the women share stories of how they entered sex work: Esmeralda reveals she began in New Orleans’s Storyville decades ago; the twins disclose they fled Texas after killing the circus man who exploited them; and both Flossy and Esmeralda admit they have children they are not allowed to see. Flossy’s insight that it is sometimes necessary to let a child go, accepting they will be better off with someone else, hangs heavy over Charlie.

Before dawn, Esmeralda sees the lone car outside the house and guesses that it must be the sheriff. She deduces that Charlie failed to make a deal with the sheriff before opening the brothel. She issues Charlie an ultimatum: make a deal with the sheriff or she leaves. Birdie volunteers to negotiate with him herself. The meeting with Sheriff Porter is unsettling: He has an old calling card, questions Birdie pointedly about racial mixing, and tells her he plans to come out for a visit, leaving the situation unresolved.

Meanwhile, a letter arrives from Jack disclosing that his estranged wife wants to reconcile and that he has told his wife he has fallen in love with someone else; he speaks of wanting more children and a family. Unable to offer him what he wants, Birdie writes back telling him that she cannot have children and ends the relationship. Frances then calls from Biloxi to report that she has found Rory, who has been arrested for striking a policeman with the Studebaker and faces charges including “unnatural acts” at a party the police broke up.

The next morning, the newspaper carries a photograph of Sheriff Porter dragging Priscilla out in handcuffs, with Garnett Pittman quoted calling for the arrested sex workers to be incarcerated and sterilized. As the stakes of their operation sink in, Charlie privately asks Birdie to promise that if Charlie is arrested and Garnett gets her hands on Meg, Birdie or Frances will try to adopt Meg before she can be sent to the work program.