Robert Suurhof invites Minke to visit the Mellema estate, promising a girl more beautiful than Queen Wilhelmina.

Minke meets Annelies Mellema and her mother Nyai Ontosoroh for the first time at the Wonokromo plantation.

Herman Mellema enters the dining room, challenges Minke's presence as a Native, and is scolded and banished by Nyai.

Darsam delivers Nyai's letter saying Annelies has become withdrawn; Minke moves into the Mellema household.

A police officer arrives in the night and escorts Minke by train to an undisclosed destination.

Minke realizes the bupati he must prostrate before is his own father, who scolds him for ignoring family letters.

Darsam confesses to Minke that Robert M. tried to recruit him to assassinate Minke.

A second letter from Nyai reports that Annelies is desperately ill; Minke returns to Wonokromo.

Robert S. publicly reveals Minke as a newspaper article's author; teacher Magda Peters praises him before the entire class.

Annelies summons Minke to her bedroom to tell her a story; they have intercourse for the first time.

Fatso walks past Wonokromo's front gate; Darsam pursues him with a machete toward Babah Ah Tjong's brothel.

Minke's group enters the brothel and discovers Herman Mellema's dead body; Robert M. flees through a window.

After the murder trial is paused, the school director calls Minke into his office and expels him.

Minke and Annelies are married in a Muslim ceremony at Wonokromo, attended by a large crowd of guests.

Minke and Nyai stand in the doorway and watch as Annelies is escorted into a carriage and driven away.

Minke, the sole Native student at an elite Dutch prep school, is introduced to the Mellema family and falls in love with Annelies, eventually moving into the Wonokromo plantation household. A forced trip home forces him to confront his estranged father and his divided cultural allegiance before he returns to face an assassination threat from Annelies's hostile brother. The discovery of Herman Mellema's body at a neighboring brothel triggers a sensational murder trial that destroys Minke's standing at school. He is expelled, then reinstated, and ultimately graduates with the second highest exam scores in the Indies before marrying Annelies in a celebrated ceremony at Wonokromo. Their happiness is brief — the Dutch legal system enforces the claim of Herman's legitimate son, Maurits, who has obtained a court order to bring Annelies to Amsterdam. The novel closes with Minke and Nyai standing in the doorway, helpless, as Annelies is carried away.

The central love story and its tragic colonial ending.

Minke kisses Annelies on the cheek during their tour of the Wonokromo plantation.

Nyai stops the departing carriage to confront Minke about the kiss, then asks him to kiss Annelies again.

Minke visits Jean Marais for advice about his feelings; Jean tells him plainly that he is in love with Annelies.

Annelies recounts to Minke how Nyai's own father sold Nyai to Herman as a concubine when she was only fourteen.

Robert M. invites Minke to his room and quizzes him about his intentions toward Annelies in a condescending tone.

Babah Ah Tjong lures Robert M. into his brothel and sends him to a room with Maiko, a sex worker carrying an incurable disease.

Nyai smells the brothel on Robert M. when he returns and confronts him; he leaves Wonokromo for good.

Minke's landlord Mr. Telinga confronts and chases the mysterious stalker Fatso near Jean Marais's painting studio.

Magda Peters visits Wonokromo and is overwhelmed by Nyai's intelligence and the plantation's successful operation.

Robert S. contacts Minke's newspaper to expose him as a Native; the editor responds by offering Minke a permanent position.

Newspapers throughout the region widely report on Minke and Darsam being present at the brothel where Herman was found dead.

Babah confesses to poisoning Herman during the murder trial; the judge pauses proceedings to locate Fatso and Robert M.

Magda persuades Minke to attend a school meeting where the administration agrees to let him graduate with strict limitations.

Minke learns at the graduation ceremony that he scored second highest on his final exams throughout all the Indies.

Darsam assembles Madurese fighters who clash violently with police and the elite Marechaussee soldiers outside Wonokromo.

Behind the central love story, a series of quieter but vital events reveals the full texture of colonial life at Wonokromo and in Surabaya. Nyai's fierce protectiveness of Annelies is rooted in her own history as a girl sold into concubinage, while Minke's friend Jean helps him understand the difference between infatuation and love. Robert M.'s seduction by a diseased sex worker at the neighboring brothel sets in motion the chain of events leading to Herman's poisoning, while a mysterious stalker named Fatso shadows Minke through the city. Minke's reputation at school fractures as his wealth becomes visible, though his writing earns him a professional journalism offer. The murder trial consumes the community, with Babah's eventual confession stalling the proceedings and Magda staging a quiet campaign to restore Minke's schooling. The pool closes with Darsam's desperate armed clash against colonial soldiers — the final, doomed attempt to keep Annelies at home.

The secondary moments that shape life at Wonokromo and beyond.

Nyai tells Annelies that Herman's Dutch son Maurits arrived at Wonokromo, revealing Herman had a legitimate wife in the Netherlands.

Nyai shows Minke an article he wrote under a pseudonym about nyais and surprises him with her deep knowledge of Native literature.

Minke's mother warns him that he has forgotten how to be Javanese by associating too closely with the Dutch.

Minke serves as official interpreter at his father's installation ceremony and earns an invitation to Dutch official Herbert de la Croix's home.

Herbert de la Croix's daughters Miriam and Sarah intellectually test Minke and declare they intend to be his lifelong advisors.

On the train back to Surabaya, Minke notices an Asian man he will come to call Fatso watching him.

Dr. Martinet tells Minke that Annelies has been sedated and that Minke must now serve as her primary caregiver.

Minke's daily arrival at school in an expensive Mellema carriage causes most classmates and teachers to shun him.

Annelies confesses to Minke that she was raped by her brother Robert M.; Nyai silently covers them both with blankets.

Dr. Martinet deduces during a candid discussion that Annelies was raped; Minke confirms her own brother was responsible.

Nyai defies the courtroom by switching to Dutch and publicly exposing colonial hypocrisy before being forcibly removed by officers.

Robert S. arrives at the wedding reception, presents Annelies with a diamond ring, and immediately departs without explanation.

A wedding gift arrives from the man called Fatso, bearing a note wishing Minke and Annelies well and asking forgiveness.

Annelies and Nyai return from Dutch court to report that Maurits has secured legal custody to bring Annelies to Amsterdam.

Annelies asks to use her mother's old suitcase to leave, saying like her mother before her she will never return home.

This pool follows the hidden discoveries and pivotal decisions that redirect the story at every stage. Nyai's disclosure of Maurits's existence — and Herman's secret legitimate marriage — establishes the legal trap that will eventually consume the family, while Minke's visit to his father's installation forces him to confront the question of whether he belongs to Java or to the Dutch world that educated him. A mysterious stalker, a doctor's psychological insight, and a shameful family secret all converge to deepen the bonds between Minke and Annelies even as dangers multiply. Nyai's defiant courtroom speech against colonial hypocrisy becomes the novel's most electrifying protest, and the wedding brings shocking revelations about two men the reader has long mistrusted. The pool closes with the devastating custody revelation and Annelies's quiet farewell — her words echoing her mother's own exile decades before — sealing the novel's tragic symmetry.