At age 32, Travis Devine maintains a daily regimen: boarding the 6:20 am train from Mount Kisco to Manhattan. His attire, an off-the-rack suit paired with a persistently wrinkled white shirt, belies his preference for denim or military dress. His constant companion, a dual-screen encrypted laptop, serves as a tool of his employment at Cowl and Comely. He has exchanged military combat for financial battles against corporate competitors. His living arrangement is a townhouse he shares with three roommates. In his family life, Devine is overshadowed by his elder siblings, Danny and Claire, who excel in their respective professions. Devine’s parents, notably disengaged, expressed open discontent with his military aspirations, despite his acceptance into West Point and subsequent time as a US Army Ranger. His involuntary departure from military service caused his life path to change, and his current role in finance is a self-inflicted punishment for an undisclosed transgression during his time as an Army Ranger.

As his commute takes him past the homes of the wealthy, which he refers to as “palaces,” Devine is privy to a recurring spectacle: the view of a private pool behind one of the mansions, which is frequently occupied by the swimming figure of a character who will later be introduced as