Born in 1691, Adeline “Addie” LaRue is a young Frenchwoman from the rural town of Villon-sur-Sarthe. She has seven freckles on her face that others say resemble a constellation of stars. In adulthood, individuals like Bea tell her she has a “timeless” look, which makes sense given that she was born in the 17th century.

Growing up, Addie never envisions herself following traditional gender norms by marrying and having children. Instead, she occupies her time by drawing in her sketchbook and accompanying her father on trips to the nearby walled city of Le Mans. These trips engender in Addie a desire to escape Villon and see the world. Unlike her parents, she resists Catholicism, preferring the old rustic gods her elderly neighbor Estele worships and fears.

By the time Addie is 23, she has rejected numerous suitors. She resigns herself to embrace the lonesome persona modeled for her by Estele, yet she is denied even this level of autonomy, as the townsfolk demand that she marry a recent widower with three children. Terrified of living a short—and, in her mind, pointless—domestic life of cooking and childrearing, Addie prays to the old gods for escape. Her deliverance comes in the form of Luc, a supernatural stranger who grants her eternal life for as long as she wants it—plenty of time, she believes, to fulfill her wifely duties to the village before following her own wandering impulses wherever they lead.