Part 1 opens with an epigraph from the poem “Return of the Exile” by George Seferis about childhood, death and going home.

The prologue opens weeks or months after the events in ’salem’s Lot are over. Ben Mears and Mark Petrie travel south and west away from New England. Along the way, they look in a Maine newspaper for articles about strange happenings in Jerusalem’s Lot. Mark displays oblique disinterest in the newspapers and will not talk about what happened. Eventually, Ben finds a story about a ghost town in Maine called “Ghost Town in Maine?”

The article says that no one lives in Jerusalem’s Lot now. A little over a year ago, people began to disappear, though some were found in nearby towns or across the country. None of the people who were found would talk about what happened. The article lists other missing people whose current whereabouts are unknown. Ben knows some of them were killed or converted by the vampires.

Mark makes his first confession, and the village priest comes to visit Ben. Ben tells him Mark’s confession is true. The priest asks Ben what he intends to do about Jerusalem’s Lot.