Li Lan, nearly 18, is a young woman of Chinese descent living in Malacca in the late 19th century. She and her father are the only surviving members of her once wealthy and well-respected family, as her mother died of a smallpox epidemic that left her father with scars. Li Lan survived the disease and was left with only a small scar as evidence of the illness.

While sitting in his study one evening, Li Lan’s father asks her if she would be willing to become a ghost bride. Ghost marriages are when a living person is wed to a deceased person; they are quite uncommon and unlucky. Li Lan is so surprised by her father’s question that she spills his ink in an “ominous stain.” Her father explains that the very wealthy Lim family, who recently lost their son and heir, inquired about her. Li Lan is not interested in such an arrangement at all and her father assures her that he did not accept on her behalf. Unsettled, Li Lan leaves her father in his study, smoking his opium pipe.

Later, Li Lan’s nursemaid, Amah, asks what she discussed with her father. When Li Lan explains that the Lim family sought a betrothal between her and their dead son, Amah is outraged.