What Actually Happens
This page previously described events that do not match the actual plot of the Netflix series Ozark. Here is what really happens, drawn from the show itself.
The pastor in Ozark is Mason Young. His wife, Grace, is killed as retaliation against Mason for refusing to let drug traffickers use his church. Their infant son, nicknamed Zeke, survives her death and is placed in state custody.
Later in the series, a grieving Mason kidnaps Wendy Byrde in an attempt to get his son back. Marty Byrde arranges for Zeke to be returned to Mason, but Mason is killed during the confrontation that follows. Zeke is then taken in by the Byrde family until a permanent family could be found for him.
So the pastor’s baby was never kidnapped for ransom by outsiders, was not killed, and was not “born out of wedlock” — none of that happened in the show. What did happen is that his mother was murdered, his father died trying to get him back, and he ended up, at least for a time, in the Byrdes’ care.