Content Warning: Mrs. Everything includes depictions of sexual abuse of a child, sexual violence, and drug use.

Prologue Summary: “Jo [2015]”

Jo, an adult woman, leaves the movie theater with her wife and three daughters. She gets a call and immediately knows it brings bad news. Over the phone, her doctor tells her that she has cancer again. Jo had breast cancer years ago after finding a lump on her breast; she endured chemotherapy and other treatments, believing she was in remission. She holds her wife’s hand and thinks of her daughters: the eldest teenager, Kim, energetic Melissa (called Missy), and bookish youngest child Lila. With her diagnosis, Jo prays she has enough time to make things right with her family.

At age six, Josette, known as Jo, and her family move into a new house in a nicer neighborhood outside Detroit, Michigan. They moved from the apartment in central Detroit, which Jo loved, to a brick house, which she doesn’t think is special, despite her parents’ excitement. Jo will miss the different kids in their apartment complex, the various ethnic foods cooking, and hearing Italian, Polish, and other languages. Her kindhearted father, Ken, assures her she will learn to enjoy their new home.