Armand Gamache and his godfather Stephen Horowitz sit and chat in the garden of the Musée Rodin in Paris. When Stephen reminds Armand about the time Armand thought he’d propose to Reine-Marie in the same garden, Armand recalls his first time in Paris. As a child, his parents died, and he was sent to live with Stephen in his apartment in Paris. Stephen taught Armand to see beauty in art and in life again.

In the present, 50 years later, the two men stand in front of the statue The Gates of Hell. They think back to the day when Armand had told Stephen that he would be proposing. Armand, now in his 50s, and Stephen, now in his 90s, chat about Armand’s children. Armand has a historically strained relationship with his son Daniel, who lives in Paris and works as a banker. Armand’s suspicions are aroused when Stephen asks how Armand and Daniel are truly getting along. Armand believes he and his son’s problems are in the past. Armand’s daughter Annie is a lawyer and is married to Jean-Guy, a former detective who used to be under Armand’s direction.