In the first chapter we are introduced to the novel’s protagonist, Clay Jannon, who has recently lost his job as a designer for NewBagel as a result of the economic recession. It was his first job after finishing art school and it “hadn’t lasted long enough to build my portfolio or even get particularly good at anything” (6). Clay takes to walking around San Francisco reading help-wanted ads and, on one of these walks, he stumbles across Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, which has a Help Wanted sign in the window. Despite his conviction that “’24-hour bookstore’ was a euphemism for something” (7), Clay applies for the job of night clerk. Mr. Penumbra, the store’s owner, asks him about a book he loves, and Clay tells him about The Dragon-Song Chronicles, a series of books he has read three times. Pleased with his answer, Penumbra then asks, “But can you climb a ladder?” (10), which leads to Clay’s first terrifying experience of retrieving a book that is three floors above ground level.