Barbara Van Laar is found missing from her bunk at Camp Emerson, prompting an immediate search across the grounds.

Alice Van Laar pressures TJ Hewitt to enroll Barbara in camp despite the session already being underway.

Jacob Sluiter fakes a limp to secure a transfer to minimum security, then escapes and heads north.

Detective Judyta Luptack is dispatched to investigate Barbara's disappearance and attempts to interview the Van Laar family.

Tracy wanders into the woods alone while secretly searching for Barbara and becomes completely lost.

The Survival Trip begins, and Barbara takes charge of her small group and leads their outdoor survival efforts.

Barbara severely cuts her leg during the Survival Trip, and TJ secretly sutures the wound inside her tent.

Police pull over John Paul McLellan's car and discover a bloody camp uniform inside the trunk.

Louise is held in custody on drug charges as John Paul accuses her of involvement in Barbara's disappearance.

Jacob Sluiter is captured by police while hiding inside an empty house in northern New York.

Sluiter leads investigators by boat across Lake Joan to a cave he says contains Bear Van Laar's remains.

Victor Hewitt confesses that Bear drowned when he followed an impaired Alice onto the lake during a storm.

Bear's skeletal remains are positively identified, and authorities prepare formal charges against the Van Laar family.

Maryanne Stoddard uses the equity in her home to post Louise's bail, certain the Van Laars are framing her.

Judy rows alone to TJ's remote island cabin and finds Barbara alive, agreeing to keep her location secret.

When thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar vanishes from her Camp Emerson bunk, rookie detective Judy Luptack is dispatched to investigate a disappearance that eerily echoes that of Barbara's brother Bear fourteen years earlier. The search intensifies when a bloody camp uniform is found in John Paul McLellan's car, while convicted killer Jacob Sluiter is known to be at large in the surrounding woods. The Survival Trip earlier that summer had already placed Barbara and TJ Hewitt in an unusual and suspicious dynamic, adding another layer of mystery to the investigation. Judy's patient, methodical work leads Sluiter to reveal the location of Bear's long-hidden remains, and Victor Hewitt finally confesses the truth — that Bear drowned during a boat trip with an impaired Alice, and the Van Laars forced Victor to help conceal it. With Bear's remains identified and charges prepared, Judy pursues one final lead and rows to a remote island cabin, where she finds Barbara alive and hiding by choice, and agrees to protect her secret.

The major events of Barbara's disappearance and the truth behind Bear's death.

Tracy Jewell arrives at Camp Emerson for the first time and learns the camp's fundamental survival rule.

Barbara arrives at camp two days late, stunning the other campers with her punk style and strong swimming.

Barbara convinces Tracy to switch bunks so she can slip out each night to meet a secret boyfriend.

Alice breaks into Barbara's padlocked bedroom and immediately paints over the large mural Barbara created on the wall.

Louise sneaks out to meet Lee Towson at night, and a drunken John Paul arrives and attacks Lee.

Louise is interviewed by Detective Hayes about her whereabouts the night Barbara disappeared and is warned to get a lawyer.

Judy finds a still-wet swimsuit among Barbara's belongings while searching the Van Laar house on her own initiative.

A young camper tells Judy that Barbara visited TJ Hewitt's tent secretly each night during the Survival Trip.

John Paul is released on bail, and investigators learn he had been secretly staying near Camp Emerson all summer.

Carl Stoddard's daughter Jeannie Clute tells Judy she believes her father was wrongly scapegoated for Bear's disappearance.

Fingerprints on beer bottles at the observation cabin are matched to John Paul, placing him near Barbara all summer.

Judy engages Sluiter in a game of Truth or Dare that draws out his knowledge of Bear's disappearance.

TJ tells Judy she treated Barbara like a younger sister and points her suspicion toward John Paul McLellan Junior.

A conservator restores Barbara's painted-over mural, revealing the initials "BVL + JPM" hidden beneath the pink paint.

Louise agrees to press assault charges against John Paul after learning he had been involved with Annabel all summer.

Pool 2 follows the secondary moments that flesh out the world of Camp Emerson and the people caught up in Barbara's disappearance. From Tracy's first uneasy days at camp to Barbara's secret nightly escapes and her unlikely friendship with Tracy, these events reveal the social dynamics and hidden alliances operating beneath the surface. Louise's volatile relationship with John Paul and her encounters with investigators place her under mounting suspicion even as she attempts to do the right thing. Judy's careful detective work — searching rooms, matching fingerprints, and coaxing testimony from reluctant witnesses — slowly builds a case against John Paul as the central figure of interest. The restoration of Barbara's painted-over bedroom mural proves to be a crucial breakthrough, linking Barbara directly to John Paul and reshaping the entire direction of the investigation.

The relationships, clues, and camp life that shaped the investigation.

Alice marries Peter Van Laar and gives birth to Bear, forming a fierce maternal bond that defines her life.

Peter instructs Alice to drink more alcohol at social gatherings, steadily accelerating her dependence.

Alice discovers Peter and her sister Delphine asleep together on Bear's bed during the Blackfly Goodbye party.

Carl Stoddard receives the emergency call about Bear's disappearance and leads volunteer firefighters to the Van Laar estate.

A wooden bear carving is found in the woods during the search, casting suspicion directly onto Carl Stoddard.

Alice gives birth to Barbara while insisting to Peter that she can see Bear alive in the delivery room.

Alice is placed in the Dunwitty mental health facility after refusing to accept that Bear may be dead.

Victor Hewitt discovers a capsized rowboat on the lake and is forced by Peter Senior to help conceal Bear's drowning.

Young TJ emerges from the woods on the night of Bear's disappearance, having witnessed the men hide the body.

John Paul beats Louise after a drunken argument, and TJ secretly nurses Louise's injuries at the camp.

Louise reconciles with John Paul after he arrives in tears, promises sobriety, and offers to support her brother Jesse.

The elder Mrs. Van Laar quietly advises Judy to speak with Victor Hewitt, cracking the family's wall of silence.

Sluiter refuses to speak to anyone but Judy and tells her he knows where Bear Van Laar's remains are hidden.

Judy tracks Victor Hewitt to a hiding spot in the abandoned apartment above the old slaughterhouse on the property.

TJ tells Barbara she planted a bloody uniform in John Paul's car and has prepared a remote cabin for her escape.

Pool 3 traces the origins of the Van Laar family's tragedy, beginning with Alice's arranged marriage to Peter and the birth of Bear, whose loss will define everything that follows. Alice's discovery of her husband's affair with her sister Delphine, Bear's drowning death, and Victor Hewitt's forced participation in the subsequent cover-up form the dark foundation beneath the 1975 disappearance. The pool also explores Louise's abusive relationship with John Paul and TJ's quiet but crucial role as a protector of those the Van Laars discard. As the investigation unfolds in 1975, key revelations — including the elder Mrs. Van Laar's tip about Victor and Sluiter's willingness to speak only to Judy — bring the long-buried truth within reach. The pool concludes with TJ's plan for Barbara's escape fully exposed, showing how one act of quiet loyalty ultimately unraveled the Van Laar family's carefully maintained web of lies.