The Prologue is a description of At the Edge of a Wood, a Sara de Vos painting in which a girl looks but does not join others skating on a frozen river.

The unnamed narrator rehashes the events surrounding the theft of At the Edge of a Wood. Martijn “Marty” and Rachel de Groot, rich society patrons who live in a fabulous Fifth Avenue apartment, throw an annual fundraiser dinner for orphans at their home. Rachel, a depressive who has suffered several miscarriages, frets about the event. For the 1957 fundraiser, she decides to add a special touch: She uses a company called Rent-a-Beats, which provides colorful, artsy types to mingle with guests at classy parties. Marty also gets nervous about the party since Clay White, the managing partner from the law firm where Marty practices patent law, will attend with his wife.

The de Groots’ apartment is one of six in a building the de Groot family has owned since the 1920s. The atmosphere in the three-level apartment is appropriately glum for the benefit because the walls are covered with the dark-hued Dutch and Flemish paintings that are part of Marty’s wealth.