Basil Ransom, a young man from Mississippi, waits in a Boston drawing room for his cousin Olive Chancellor, whom he has never met. Olive’s unabashed older sister Mrs. Luna joins him and informs him that Olive frequently attends “weird meetings” attended by “roaring radicals” (7). Basil is dismayed to learn that Olive is a feminist but figures he should not be surprised considering she lives in Boston, “the city of reform” (7).

Mrs. Luna asks Basil if he has been to Europe. He does not “go out much, except to the courts” (8)—Chapter 2 will reveal that he has moved from Mississippi to New York to begin a law practice. Mrs. Luna notes that she and her sister “disagree so much” (8). Mrs. Luna lived in Europe for years, but after the death of her husband a month ago, she came home to New York with her son Newton. She is currently visiting her sister.

Olive enters the room and greets Basil. Mrs. Luna leaves for a theater party and tells Olive to inform Basil that she is “a painted Jezebel” (9).