In the dark, the constable mistakes Winnie for Mae. Miles pries the window out of Mae's cell, and Winnie exchanges places with Mae. At midnight, Winnie and the Tucks go to jail. He gives her a bottle of water from the spring and asks her to drink it when she turns seventeen. He explains that Miles has a plan to break Mae out of jail. The following evening, Jesse visits Winnie. The Tucks and Winnie realize that attempting to execute her will reveal the Tucks' secret. Since Mae has committed murder, she will be hanged. The constable takes Winnie home and locks Mae in the village jail. Winnie tells the constable that the Tucks are her friends, not her kidnappers. The man in the yellow suit falls just as the constable arrives. Mae, using a shotgun as a club, clouts him on his head. He announces that after she drinks the water, demonstrations with her will do just as well. The man in the yellow suit offers to pay the Tucks to publicly demonstrate their invincibility. Now, with legal possession of the wood and spring, he plans to sell the spring water to 'people who deserve it. He had followed the Tucks and eavesdropped to hear their story.

Two nights ago, the man had heard the same tune coming from the Fosters' wood, where Mae had played it on her music box. The man in the yellow suit had learned the music box's tune from his grandmother, who had learned it from her friend. The ageless husband's mother had owned a music box. He tells the Tucks that his grandmother had a friend who left her husband, taking their son and daughter, because the husband had not aged in twenty years. He directs the constable to the Tucks' home, then rides ahead to meet the Tucks alone. He tells them that the Tucks have kidnapped Winnie and promises to rescue her in exchange for the Fosters' wood. The man in the yellow suit steals the Tucks' horse and rides to the Fosters' home. That evening, Jesse proposes that after Winnie turns seventeen, she drink from the spring and live eternally with him. He asks her to keep the Tucks' secret, saying that if others found out about the spring, they would drink from it and later regret their immortality. Angus Tuck, patriarch of the family, explains that he wants to grow old but can't. After seeing that the clearing around the spring had not changed in twenty years, the Tucks realized that the spring had made them immortal. Forced to leave their farm, the Tucks returned in the direction of Treegap. Miles's wife left him, taking their son and daughter. After twenty years, the Tucks realized they were not aging. The Tucks explain that, 87 years ago, they had passed through the wood while looking for land to farm. On the road, they pass the man in the yellow suit. They seize Winnie, taking her to their home and pleading with her not to be scared. Jesse's mother Mae and brother Miles arrive. When she mentions her father, Jesse becomes scared she will tell him about the spring.

Winnie wants to drink from the spring, but Jesse stops her. When she asks his age, he first says he's 104 years old, then changes his answer to seventeen. She sees a young man, Jesse Tuck, drink from a small spring. While the Fosters own the wood, they never enter it. The next morning, Winnie explores the wood. Winnie, the man, and Winnie's grandmother hear a music box playing in the wood near the Fosters' house. That evening, a man in a yellow suit approaches the Foster home, looking for information. Ten-year-old Winifred 'Winnie' Foster, who lives at the edge of the village of Treegap, decides to run away from her overbearing family.

Tuck everlasting book