The novel opens with a very brief prologue. The narrator, later revealed to be Henry Lamb, explains that when he was 11, and his sister was 9, a group of unnamed characters came to live with them for more than five years. When he was 16, a baby arrived as well.

Libby, a 25-year-old woman, is living in a modest, one-bedroom apartment in St. Albans, a city in England. One morning, she wakes up to find a letter on her front steps. Libby calls Dénia, her adoptive mother, and asks her to wait on the phone while she opens the letter. The letter states that Libby has inherited a mansion in Chelsea from Henry and Martina Lamb, whom she believes to be her deceased biological parents.

Lucy is a homeless woman living in Nice, France, with her two young children, Marco and Stella, and their dog. As Lucy and her children eat dinner at an outdoor restaurant, Lucy can tell a storm is coming. She pays for the meal with a credit card, with “the knowledge that now there is no money in that account, that there is no money anywhere” (10).

After their meal, Lucy tries to think of some place where they can spend the night.