The book opens with a short Prologue. The same scene of walking down an asphalt street during the summer is told from three points of view, presumably the three protagonists’. The fourth paragraph declares that “they would have been nothing more than people by themselves,” but “all together, they are the instruments of change” (4).

The Prologue continues to offer brief glimpses into each of the protagonist’s past. We first encounter Simon when the adults around him plan how to escape a sinking boat. This passage is the first to suggest physical abuse, as the boy is familiar with the “haunting terrible voice, that seemed to murmur endearments all the while the hands skillfully and cruelly hurt him” (5).

The next passage retells the deaths of a woman named Hana and her baby and her demand that Joe take care of Simon. The final passage follows Kerewin’s plans for and efforts building her tower and its function as both a hermitage and a prison.

The story begins with hermit artist Kerewin Holmes having drinks at a local pub but remaining distant and isolated from the locals. In the next scene, she goes fishing at dawn.