Coraline is a perceptive young girl. She and her family have just moved into a large house. The house has been divided into several flats. Below Coraline’s flat, two older women, former actresses Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, share a flat with their aging terrier dogs. Above Coraline’s flat lives an old mustached man. He claims to be training a mouse circus and complains that the mice won’t play the songs he’s written. All three of Coraline’s neighbors call her Caroline.

It’s summer, so Coraline spends her time exploring the area around the house. There is a large, neglected garden, an abandoned tennis court, and an old well the ladies downstairs have warned Coraline not to go near. The low bricks surrounding the well are covered by overgrown grass, and the well is boarded up so no one can fall in. Coraline spends one afternoon dropping pebbles through the knothole in one of the planks and listening for the splash far below. A black cat lives around the house as well, but it runs when Coraline tries to approach it.

Coraline’s parents work from home, and they each have their own office. One day, it rains and Coraline must stay inside.