Mary Catherine Blackwood is 18 and lives with her older sister Constance and her Uncle Julian. “The rest of my family is dead,” she says (1). The deaths of the Blackwoods remain a source of mystery and speculation to the people in town. As a result, the Blackwood house has a peculiar air; many things that were in place when the Blackwood family died have been left in place, collecting dust. Constance and Julian never leave the house.

On Fridays and Tuesdays, Mary (or Merricat, as she is often called) goes into town to gather supplies, which is a task she dreads. The townspeople treat her as a pariah and openly speculate that Constance murdered the Blackwoods. The Blackwoods were known as the wealthiest and most deep-rooted family in the village, and the contempt shown to Merricat is privately reflected back; she thinks of many of the houses and families surrounding her as shabby and of a lower class. She knows the history of all the houses and the names of all the families and usually avoids roads in which her presence might be noted and commented upon.

Nevertheless, one late April Friday morning, Merricat plays a game with herself, pretending that the village is a large board game, one she wins if she’s able to avoid people.