Content Warning: This section of the guide describes the novel’s depiction of wartime violence, death by suicide, and sexual assault.

Newlywed Inès Chauveau drives home to tell her husband, Michel, that the German invasion has begun. She feels satisfied for carrying such important news, then guilty for taking pleasure in it. She finds Michel and his head winemaker, Theo, and tells them the news, after which Michel plans to hide their best champagne.

Olivia Kent is recently divorced. Her ex-husband, Eric, had an affair with a young administrative assistant while Olivia was undergoing treatment for in vitro fertilization. Now, he helping Olivia move her move into her tiny new apartment. Eric asks Liv not to be angry, but Liv is disdainful of Eric’s selfishness and his blasé attitude about ending their 12-year marriage. They were both successful professionals, “the perfect power couple” in the same company until Liv left the workforce for her third and final round of IVF treatments (7). She was unsuccessful and now she has no friends, job, or savings.

However, Liv’s French grandmother, Edith, has been helping to support her. After Eric leaves, Grandma Edith arrives unexpectedly. She announces that she and Liv will be traveling to Paris later that day.