Agnes is the main character of Burial Rites, and is based on a true person, the last woman to be executed in Iceland. She was put to death by beheading in 1830. Although Agnes’s story is based on true events, most of the narrative is fictional. Agnes’s story is told in a combination of present-day segments and flashbacks. When her story begins, she has already been convicted of murder and is awaiting execution. Abused by her captors, she is delivered to the family of a government worker where she will await her execution date. Despite her impending death, she is able to find comfort in the companionship of her host family, eventually coming to see them as the family she never had. She seeks the advice of a young priest who she first saw in a dream, and with his help she comes to terms with her brutal past. Flashbacks reveal a tale of abandonment, an abusive relationship with an older man, and a series of events that led to her being wrongly convicted of murder.