Son Timeline and Summary

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• Son jumps off a boat and swims for shore in the Caribbean. But the current sweeps him farther out to sea and his only option is to climb onto a private yacht. He rides the yacht to a nearby island in secret, then spends the next few days foraging in swamps.
• When he gets sick of swamp life, Son goes to the largest house on the island and sneaks inside to find food.
• When he gets cocky, Son goes farther into the house to explore. When he hears footsteps, he rushes into a closet and gets caught a few seconds later by Margaret, the lady of the house.
• When the house's servant points a gun at him, Son walks downstairs and meets Valerian, the house's owner. Rather than call the police, Valerian invites him to dinner.
• Over the next few days, Son stays in Valerian's guest room. He falls in love with Jade, a young black woman who is also staying at the house. On a creepy note, he starts watching Jade while she sleeps and tries to fill her dreams with all the desires he wants her to have.
• One day, Son comes into Jade's room while she's changing. He grabs her and smells her hair, saying that he knows that she's just like him, deep down. She yells that he's an animal, but it's clear that he has rattled her. He lets her go and leaves.
• Son goes into the nearby town to get himself cleaned up. He also borrows an old suit of Valerian's, and before you know it, he's looking pretty spiffy.
• On Christmas Day, Valerian and his wife Margaret have a dinner and invite Son to join them. The black servants, Ondine and Sydney, are at the table too, as is Jade.
• When Valerian says that he has fired a few of his local helpers, a fight breaks out. During the fight, Jade takes Son and leads him away. They decide that they want to run away to New York together.
• In New York, Jade and Son live together for a few months. Son keeps insisting, though, that they go visit his hometown of Eloe, Florida. Eventually, Jade relents.
• Son shows Jade around, but Jade hates it in Eloe.
• When they get back to New York, Jade demands that Son show some ambition and apply to law school or business school. Son tells her that he'll be damned if he's going to succeed on a white man's terms. For him, most types of success are tainted by white culture. He wants to blaze his own trail as a strong black man. Jade thinks he's being ridiculous.
• In a fit of anger, Son rapes Jade. She leaves him and heads back to Valerian's house in the Caribbean. Son follows her, and he ends the book climbing over a bunch of rocks through the fog and hoping that he'll make it to Valerian's house before she leaves. As readers, though, we already know that she's gone.