Content Warning: This novel depicts graphic sexual assault, death by suicide, substance use disorder, and the loss of a child.

The narrator, Violette Toussaint, recounts the defining characteristics of her nearby neighbors: the dead. Violette lives near the cemetery where she works.

Violette introduces herself and enjoys a glass of port while she reminisces. She was given up at birth and assumed stillborn until the warmth of a radiator brought her back to life. A midwife named her. Violette grew straight and tall; every day “disciplined” her. As an adult, she married a man named Philippe Toussaint.

In 1997, many years before the narrative present, Violette and Philippe have lost their jobs as level-crossing operators; Violette did all the work for both of them. Violette discovers an advert for a couple to watch over a cemetery in the small village of Brancion-en-Chalon and convinces Philippe to go. Upon arrival, Violette realizes she is where she belongs.