The opening chapter introduces Flynne Fisher and her veteran brother Burton. Flynne is visiting Burton at his home, a 1977 Airstream trailer, the inside of which Burton has embalmed in a polymer that covers over everything. We learn that Burton is a former Marine and a haptic. Burton asks Flynne to sub in for him working security in a video game, a job that he has been working on the side.

The narrative shifts to the novel’s second plot line as it introduces a hungover Wilf Netherton, who is visited by Rainey’s sigil. Rainey is Wilf’s boss, and the sigil is a kind of video feed that appears before Netherton. Rainey presses Netherton about his interactions with a woman named Daedra West. Both Rainey and Netherton are publicists, and West is one of their clients. Netherton had been involved in a sexual relationship with Daedra, a fact that Rainey clearly sees as a violation. While the text does not explicitly say the year, it is assumed that this plotline takes place in the distant future.