Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child loss, kidnapping, abortion, and racism.

The novel opens with an omniscient third-person narrator describing the Hong Kong airport and the throngs of expatriates arriving. The narrator describes their varied backgrounds, careers, and motives for coming to Hong Kong. The prologue closes by stating that the expatriates are exhausted but dreaming of their new future here.

Mercy lies in bed in her tiny, cheap apartment, daydreaming of eating mythical creatures such as unicorns or centaurs. She is hungry but cannot bring herself to eat and tries to imagine what kind of meal could tempt her. It is late in the morning in December, but she has no job or place to be. Finally, she rises from bed and slowly prepares herself a small salad, forcing herself to eat it slowly, bite by bite. She reminds herself that she needs to cling to these small rituals or she will not be able to survive the day.

Margaret Reade distracts herself by designing a garden landscape for some friends of friends. She worked as a landscape architect in the US but followed her husband, Clarke, to Hong Kong and now stays home with their three children.