In 1970, Brock Vond joins with his partner, Roscoe, to visit Vond’s Political Re-Education Program (PREP), which would soon be a part of the government’s Crime Control Act. Through PREP, the Justice Department is “reconditioning” prisoners, turning them into specialized informants for the Political Intelligence Office. Vond scrutinizes the latest batch of trainees. Among them, he is most interested in Frenesi Gates, who was supposedly shipped to PREP following the collapse of the People’s Republic of Rock and Roll.

However, Frenesi has escaped. Vond is furious, especially when he learns that her files have been sent to another department. His pursuit of Frenesi is paused when he is summoned to Washington, though she continues to occupy his thoughts. In his terrifying dreams, he vaguely recalls an instance in his past that traumatized him, as he must shut all the windows in a house. When he ascends into the attic, however, a fearsome “Madwoman” attacks him. In his waking life, however, he is “an entirely different fellow” (275). He hides his trauma from the world.

A year later, Frenesi and Zoyd marry. Prairie is born. At this time, Vond is still working with PREP but he has not forgotten about Frenesi.