An unnamed woman (later revealed to be protagonist Ellery Wainwright) leaves her hotel room before sunrise to swim in a resort’s heated infinity pool after a restless night full of disturbing dreams. When she arrives, she finds a man dressed for a wedding (later revealed to be the groom Ben Taylor) floating in the pool. She pulls the body out and screams for help. It is implied that this is not her first encounter with a corpse.

One month after her divorce is finalized, Ellery Wainwright is on vacation at The Resort at Broken Point, a luxury hotel in Big Sur, California. No one was more surprised than Ellery when her husband Luke filed for divorce, claiming he wasn’t happy in his life. Although Ellery tries to enjoy her first dinner on the property, she feels overwhelmed by grief and runs out of the restaurant in tears.

Ellery calls her friend Abby, a fellow teacher at Dutch Fields High School who also went through a difficult divorce. Now happily re-married, Abby assures Ellery that she can survive anything and that traveling alone is better than allowing her ex-husband Luke to bring his new girlfriend to the resort in her place.