Content Warning: The source text features instances of sexism, xenophobia, antisemitism, racism, classism, racial and ethnic slurs, and gun violence, elements of which this section of the guide discusses.

A third-person omniscient narrator introduces the setting of the novel as Yorkshire during the years 1811-1812, 37 years before the novel was written. She also introduces three young curates: Mr. Donne (at whose lodgings the others are staying), Mr. Malone, and Mr. Sweeting. The gentlemen frequently visit and dine with each other, much to the consternation of Mr. Donne’s landlady. Reverend Helstone, a local vicar, arrives and admonishes the curates for the noise they are making. Helstone tells the men that Robert Gérard Moore—a local textile mill owner who is currently despised by workers in the town as he plans to replace them with machines—is alone at Hollow’s Mill and that one of the curates should stand guard for him. The men also talk about a man named Mike Hartley, a worker who is known to be violent and has a vengeance against Robert Moore.