Tracy interrupts Jamal's national TV interview to publicly advocate for their father's wrongful conviction case.

Tracy visits her father at Polunsky Prison to explain her actions and discuss the family's need to stay united.

Tracy discovers that Jamal and Angela Herron are secretly in a romantic relationship when she visits Herron Media.

Tracy finds Jamal late at night in the bathroom, visibly shaken and washing blood from his hands.

Police arrive at the Beaumont home and inform the family that Angela Herron has been found murdered at the Pike.

Jamal escapes through his bedroom window as police search the Beaumont house for him.

Beverly Ridges informs Tracy that Jamal's varsity jacket was found covering Angela's body at the Pike.

Tracy secretly takes Angela's phone from the Pike crime scene rather than surrendering it to police.

Tracy cracks Angela's phone and reads texts revealing that she and Jamal were jointly investigating the Pike.

Steve Jones from Innocence X arrives and tells Tracy his organization is officially taking on her father's case.

A group called The Brotherhood erects a burning cross on the Beaumont family's front lawn during a dinner with the Evans family.

Jamal emerges from hiding after seeing the cross burning and reunites with Tracy in the woods behind their home.

Mandy Peters tells Tracy that Angela stole a gun from Chris that he had taken from his uncle Richard Brighton's storage.

Mrs. Evans confesses at the police station that she witnessed Richard Brighton leaving the Davidsons' office the night of their murders.

A judge reviews new evidence at James Beaumont's appeal hearing and officially exonerates him from death row.

The novel centers on Tracy Beaumont's seven-year campaign to free her wrongfully convicted father, James, from death row in Texas. When Tracy disrupts her brother Jamal's national television interview to publicize their father's case, she strains family bonds but draws wider attention to their cause. The murder of Angela Herron and Jamal's emergence as the prime suspect then consume Tracy's life, pushing her to investigate the crime herself. She uncovers evidence revealing that Angela and Jamal had been secretly investigating dangerous activity at the Pike together, and that a white supremacist network connected to her father's original conviction is at the center of both crimes. The arrival of Innocence X and a long-overdue confession by a community member expose Richard Brighton as the true killer of the Davidsons. James Beaumont is finally exonerated at his appeal hearing, reuniting the family after seven devastating years.

Angela challenges Tracy to prove her teamwork by collaborating on a secret investigative exposé for the school paper.

Tracy visits Tasha's house and learns that the school community has split along racial lines over Jamal's suspected guilt.

Tracy visits the Ridges home looking for Quincy and speaks with Mrs. Ridges about their families' shared grief and fear.

Quincy admits to Tracy that Jamal hid at his house after Angela's murder before leaving when Mrs. Ridges spotted him.

A correctional officer at the prison threatens to revoke Tracy's visitation rights because of her television appearance.

Tracy loses the newspaper editor vote and learns her column must be re-pitched to keep her place on the paper.

Tracy finds a page from Angela's calendar in the newsroom trash referencing a Tuesday underground rally at the Pike.

Tracy and Quincy break into Herron Media and find a hidden compartment containing a notebook, a family photo, and an SD card.

Tracy brings Angela's phone to Steve at the Innocence X office and the two review the evidence together.

Dean confesses to Tracy that his first reaction to hearing about Angela's murder was to assume Jamal was guilty.

Tracy confronts Chris Brighton at Angela's grave and he admits he saw Jamal arrive at the Pike after Angela was already dead.

Tracy brings Angela's phone to Beverly, who is furious the evidence was withheld from police investigators.

Someone breaks into Steve's Innocence X office and tampers with the files on James Beaumont's case.

Richard Brighton arrives at the Beaumont home during a police standoff with Jamal and a gunshot wounds Beverly Ridges.

The Beaumont family surprises Daddy outside the courthouse with his polished Buick, ready to drive him home.

While Tracy's main battle plays out publicly, a series of quieter but crucial moments shape how the investigation unfolds. Angela's invitation for Tracy to collaborate on a secret exposé hints at what the school editor had already uncovered about dangerous activities at the Pike, and Tracy's loss of the newspaper editor position frees her to pursue the case on her own terms. She pursues every available lead—visiting the Ridges family, extracting information from Quincy, and piecing together clues left behind in Angela's belongings. Her relationship with Dean becomes a source of tension when he confesses to harboring biases that hurt Tracy deeply, while a gravesite confrontation with Chris Brighton cracks open a key piece of the truth. The evidence Tracy assembles—Angela's phone and a hidden SD card—eventually reaches the right hands even as adversaries attempt to derail the Innocence X investigation. These secondary events form the scaffolding that holds the larger case together, culminating in Beverly's shooting and the Beaumont family's long-awaited reunion.

Tracy lies on The Susan Touric Show, falsely claiming new suspects have recently been identified in her father's case.

News coverage of Angela's murder labels Jamal a suspect using a deceptive, out-of-context cropped photo.

Quincy secretly provides Tracy with a burner phone so she can communicate with Jamal while he remains in hiding.

Tracy views photos on Angela's SD card showing Chris and other white men from school gathered around a fire at the Pike.

Tracy identifies the man surveilling Steve's office through binoculars as Richard Brighton, the sheriff's brother.

Tracy and Dean share their first kiss the night a burning cross is erected on the Beaumont family's front lawn.

Tracy discovers boxes of KKK memorabilia in Dean's house, including a lynching photo featuring his mother as a child.

Horrified by the KKK discovery, Tracy leaves Dean's house immediately and goes directly to Quincy's home.

Tracy squeezes into a hidden space at the Pike warehouse and finds the missing gun inside a wall vent.

While Tracy and Quincy hide, Chris reveals to Justin that the gun was used to kill a woman at a Black Lives Matter march.

Tracy decides to leave the gun at the Pike and Quincy texts Beverly its location so police can retrieve it as evidence.

Mama arrives home with Beverly, who realizes she is legally obligated to take Jamal to the police station.

Jamal reluctantly agrees to go quietly with Beverly after Tracy appeals to their family's traumatic shared history.

Charges against Jamal are dropped and a news report announces Richard Brighton's arrest for the murder of Angela Herron.

Tracy writes to Steve announcing she has launched a new podcast, Corner for Justice, to continue her criminal justice advocacy.

Throughout the novel, specific choices and revelations shift the story's direction in irreversible ways. Tracy's reckless decision to lie on live television about new suspects helps attract Innocence X's attention, while Jamal's dehumanizing portrayal in the media illustrates exactly the racial bias Tracy has spent years fighting. A covert burner phone opens a lifeline to Jamal in hiding, and photos on Angela's SD card expose the white supremacist gatherings at the Pike that connect both murders. Tracy's discovery of KKK materials in Dean's family home forces a painful reckoning with their relationship and drives her definitively toward Quincy. Finding the murder weapon and overhearing Chris's incriminating confession at the Pike hands investigators the final pieces of the case, and Mrs. Evans's long-overdue statement links Richard Brighton directly to two crimes across seven years. These turning points accumulate into James Beaumont's exoneration and Tracy's decision to transform her fight into a new platform, Corner for Justice.