Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of mental illness, substance use and addiction, suicide and suicidal ideation, and child loss.

At a wedding shortly after their own, Patrick Friel encourages his wife, Martha Russell Friel, to go up and talk to a woman who is standing alone. The woman asks Martha how she and Patrick met, and she explains “he was ‘always just there’” (2), like a sofa in the house one grows up in. As Patrick heads off to replenish everyone’s drinks, the woman comments it must be nice to be married to a man like that, and Martha contemplates explaining the drawbacks of being married to someone nice.

Patrick and Martha live in a leased house in Oxford for seven years. Patrick is an intensive care specialist, and Martha writes a funny food column for WaitroseMagazine. For Martha’s 40th birthday in 2017, Patrick plans a party, although Martha is in no mood to celebrate. As Patrick gets ready, Martha is watching an old episode of Bake Off in which one contestant takes another’s Baked Alaska out of the fridge, causing it to melt. Patrick believes it was sabotage; Martha is unsure. Martha doesn’t want to change out of her home clothes for the party, but does so as Patrick is hurt at her lack of effort.