Knapp returns to her job at a Boston newspaper following the Thanksgiving-weekend incident described in the Prologue. Her coworkers know she is injured and ask her what happened, but she doesn’t tell them her injury is related to drinking. Nevertheless, she worries that others will suspect that something is wrong with her. She does her very best to hide her struggle from others, to keep up appearances, and for the most part, she succeeds in this effort. She considers herself a “high-functioning alcoholic: [s]mooth and ordered on the outside; roiling and chaotic and desperately secretive underneath, but not noticeably so” (11). Knapp also considers herself smart, introspective, efficient, professional, perfectionistic, and slightly reserved. She has never missed a deadline at the newspaper, where she runs the lifestyle section and writes a popular weekly column. She didn’t even request a deadline extension when both of her parents were dying.

When Knapp decides to go to rehab, she can’t bear to tell her colleagues the truth, so she says she’s going to a spa. The lie is believable because she hides her problems so well, like “most high-functioning alcoholics do” (12). Knapp says high-functioning alcoholics are everywhere and that they often thrive professionally “in spite of themselves,” in part because their jobs help them to ignore how often they’re drunk (13).