Corby backs out of his driveway while impaired by alcohol and Ativan, accidentally running over his toddler son Niko.

Niko dies in the ambulance before reaching the hospital, as emergency responders are unable to save him.

Detective Sparks questions Corby at the hospital about his morning routine and tells him directly that she believes he is lying.

Corby confesses to Emily and later to Detective Sparks that he had been drinking and misusing Ativan the morning of the accident.

Corby appears in court, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, and is released on bail pending sentencing.

Judge Palazzolo sentences Corby to three years in prison followed by three years of parole.

Corby arrives at Yates Correctional Institution, is in-processed, and is placed in a cell with a white supremacist named Pug.

Corby steals plastic bags to use in a suicide attempt but his cell is searched and he is moved to the psychiatric unit.

Emily visits Corby at Yates, tells him Maisie is struggling, and refuses to commit to the future of their marriage.

Corby accepts a permanent position on the prison grounds crew on the condition that he mentors troubled young inmate Solomon.

Officer Anselmo sexually assaults Corby with a baton in a storage room while Officer Piccardy watches.

Corby's early release is revoked when a urinalysis tests positive for his prescribed anxiety medication.

In a panic after losing his release, Corby strikes a guard and is placed in segregation with new charges pending.

Emily calls Corby to permanently end their relationship, and Corby breaks down and discloses the rape to Manny.

Emily and Maisie visit Corby's mural at the Yates library, and Maisie climbs a stool to touch the painted image of Niko.

Corby Ledbetter's life unravels on a single morning when he accidentally runs over his toddler son Niko while driving impaired, setting off a criminal investigation, a confession, and a guilty plea. His sentencing to three years at Yates Correctional Institution begins a brutal adjustment to prison life, marked by suicidal ideation and harassment from corrupt officers. His marriage slowly collapses across tense visits and phone calls, even as he finds a tentative sense of purpose mentoring a young inmate named Solomon. A sexual assault by a guard and a failed early release push Corby to his lowest point, ending in segregation and a permanent break from Emily. His death from COVID-19 in prison leaves his daughter Maisie and ex-wife Emily to seek closure, culminating in a visit to the mural Corby painted in the Yates library.

The headline events driving Corby's fall, imprisonment, and the aftermath for his family.

Corby's drunken father calls the night of Niko's death and gives Corby contact information for lawyer Rachel Dixon.

Corby's mother Vicki offers her home as collateral to secure bail, allowing Corby to stay with her before sentencing.

Corby heads toward a liquor store to relieve his craving but calls AA sponsor Dale instead and meets him at a truck stop.

Emily and Corby attend their first couples therapy session with Dr. Beena Patel, which turns tense and argumentative.

Corby is in-processed at Yates, strip-searched, and advised by Correctional Officer Cavagnero on how to survive prison life.

Corby witnesses inmate Hogan die by suicide and makes a careless remark suggesting Hogan was smart to find a way out.

Corby returns from psychiatric segregation to find that Manny has replaced Pug as his cellmate.

Corby visits the prison library for the first time and meets Mrs. Millman, who had been recommended to him by Dr. Patel.

Corby calls Emily from prison for the first time and asks her to send him drawing supplies to make pictures for Maisie.

Piccardy and Anselmo conduct a surprise inspection of Corby's cell, destroying the drawings he had made for Maisie.

Solomon joins the prison grounds crew for the first time, struggling to rake leaves and refusing to wear gloves.

Corby files a formal complaint against Piccardy, and Solomon is soon transferred out of Yates to another facility.

Warden Rickerby refuses to hear Corby's complaint when he stops her in the hallway and tells him to follow proper channels.

Corby tells prison psychologist Dr. Blankenship he was raped and receives a prescription for anti-anxiety medication.

Emily meets Manny after Corby's death and learns for the first time that Corby was raped while incarcerated.

Even before Corby enters prison, a series of quieter but consequential events shape his trajectory: his father's drunken call, his mother's financial sacrifice, and a first volatile therapy session with Dr. Patel all reveal how strained his relationships are. Inside Yates, Corby navigates the daily hazards of prison life, from witnessing a suicide to forming a wary bond with cellmate Manny and making tentative contact with Emily by phone. His attempts to advocate for Solomon trigger a campaign of harassment by Piccardy, whose misconduct goes unchecked despite Corby's persistent efforts to report it. After Corby's death, Emily's meeting with Manny finally fills in the gaps in her understanding of everything Corby endured, including the assault she had not known about.

The significant supporting moments that shape Corby's path before, during, and after his sentence.

Lawyer Dixon advises Corby to lie about the timing of his last drink to potentially make the blood test results inadmissible.

Corby drives to a bar after seeing a news story about his family's tragedy but leaves without ordering a drink.

Corby drives to the Wequonnoc River, throws gravel at himself, and speaks aloud to Niko in a painful act of self-punishment.

Corby is surprised to see his estranged father sitting beside Vicki in the courtroom at the sentencing hearing.

Prison psychiatrist Dr. Blankenship evaluates Corby in segregation and offers him anti-anxiety medication, which Corby initially refuses.

Corby attends his first AA meeting inside Yates prison and feels noticeably better when he returns to his cell afterward.

Inmate Lester becomes cold and silent after learning that Corby is serving time for killing his son.

Solomon screams at Corby that he at least did not kill his own child, then runs away in distress.

Corby finds a free art book in the library and, for the first time, identifies with Daedalus rather than Icarus in the famous painting.

Corby retrieves a small white stone from the Wequonnoc River and gives it to Solomon after Solomon expresses suicidal thoughts.

Corby discovers officers torturing Solomon and intervenes by grabbing the dead turkey and running to Counselor Jackson's office.

Mrs. Millman invites Corby to paint a large mural on the library wall, and he spends days developing a design inspired by Icarus.

An art agent approaches Corby at the mural unveiling reception and gives him a card suggesting possible work after his release.

Corby receives a long-delayed letter from his father admitting jealousy, emotional cowardice, and a desire to reconnect.

Emily and Solomon scatter Corby's ashes in the Wequonnoc River together, and Solomon returns Corby's river stone to the water.

Corby's story is driven by a sequence of pivotal moments in which denial gives way to painful honesty and self-awareness slowly deepens. His lawyer's advice to lie, his solitary breakdown by the river, and his stubborn refusal of psychiatric help in segregation all reflect a man still resisting change even as change is forced upon him. Inside Yates, his relationship with Solomon becomes a mirror for his own guilt and paternal failure, and an encounter with a painting of Icarus triggers a profound reframing of his identity. His attempts to protect Solomon from abuse escalate until corruption in the prison finally forces a reckoning, while the belated arrival of his father's letter and the discovery of Corby's rape reshape the understanding of everyone he left behind. The novel closes with a quiet act of collective grief at the river, where the stone Corby once carried is finally returned to the water.

The key decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that define Corby's arc from guilt to growth.