It’s August 1965 in New York City. Newlyweds Guy and Rosemary Woodhouse have just signed a lease on a new five-room apartment when they learn that a four-room apartment in the Bramford, a desirable Victorian building, has become available. Rosemary wants to see the apartment despite their lease. Guy is skeptical about the apartment’s size, but Rosemary says they can turn the dining area into a nursery when they need one.

A man named Mr. Micklas meets them at the Bramford. He tells Guy and Rosemary that the previous tenant, the elderly Mrs. Gardenia, died a few days prior. She had been in a coma for several weeks and died in the hospital.

Upon entering apartment 7E, Rosemary immediately notes that the kitchen alone is larger than Guy’s entire bachelor apartment. The room opposite the kitchen is full of plants, books, and papers. Rosemary finds a partial note in which Mrs. Gardenia expresses anxiety about an “intriguing pastime” with which she can “no longer associate” herself (8). Rosemary imagines how the dark room would look as a brightened-up nursery. Guy asks what the plants are, and Rosemary guesses they are herbs.

Mr. Micklas notices that a large desk at the end of the hallway is blocking a closet.