Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Arkansas detectives Wayne Hays and Roland West investigate the disappearance of Will and Julie Purcell. Hays finds Will's body in a cave, but Julie remains missing. Their search involves the children's troubled parents, strange dolls and local suspicion directed at Vietnam veteran Brett Woodard. Teacher Amelia Reardon becomes involved through her pupils and later through writing about the case. The story returns to the investigation at different points in Hays's life.
Woodard dies during a violent confrontation, and the authorities blame him for the children's fate. Years later, Julie's fingerprints prove she survived, reopening the inquiry. Hays sees signs that evidence against Woodard was planted. The detectives uncover links to Hoyt Foods and security officer Harris James, whom they kill during a confrontation and secretly bury. In old age, Hays reunites with West while struggling with dementia and memories of Amelia, now dead.
Junius Watts finally explains that Isabel Hoyt wanted Julie as a replacement for her dead daughter. Will died when he tried to stop Isabel taking his sister. Julie was kept in a pink basement room until Watts helped her escape. A convent account initially suggests she later died, but Hays suspects she survived and married childhood friend Mike Ardoin. He reaches their home and meets the family, then forgets why he came. His son keeps the address as Hays returns to his own family and West.