Chapter 1 Summary

When we meet the protagonist, Francis Phelan, he is embarking on his first day of honest labor in several years. He is also sober for the first time in years, having gone without a drink for two days running. He stopped drinking because he had wanted to be sober for his court appearance. Francis has registered twenty-one times to vote in the last election, but his attorney, Marcus Gorman, found a mistake in the legal paperwork which resulted in the charges against Francis being thrown out. But Gorman insists that Francis pay him his attorney' fees, which Gorman has reduced from five-hundred to fifty dollars, thanks to the intervention of a mutual friend, Martin Daugherty. It is Gorman who arranges this day's work at Saint Agnes Cemetery, to help Francis pay his fee.

So today, Francis rides a truck up the winding cemetery...