The novel begins with a disoriented and injured Will Farnaby hearing a mynah bird speaking the word, “attention.” Presumably, Will is in and out of consciousness due to his injury. Images of his wife Molly’s death flicker in and out of his thoughts. He recalls the moments that led up to her death. He had told Molly that their marriage was over; subsequently, she left in a haste, and was killed while driving in a rainstorm.

Will slowly starts to come around. We learn that he was injured while trying to climb a cliff at the edge of a beach. He has been shipwrecked here, at the island of Pala.

Will is spotted by two children, who we later learn are Mary Sarojini and Tom Krishna, grandchildren of the island’s preeminent doctor and intellectual, Dr. Robert MacPhail. Mary asks Will if he is hungry. The fact that the children speak English gives him pause. Mary tells Will about the Mynah birds that chant “attention.” She asks how he was injured, and Will says that he fell from the cliff when he saw a snake. Meanwhile, Tom has gone off in search of help.