Summary

Chapter 1 begins with the third person narrator zooming in on Anne Conti, who has had too much to drink at her next-door neighbor’s dinner party. Cynthia Stillwell, Anne’s neighbor, irritates Anne by flirting with Anne’s husband Marco right in front of Anne and Cynthia’s husband Graham. Anne observes Cynthia’s beauty and feels self-conscious about her own appearance since Anne is still overweight six months after her pregnancy. Anne checks the time at one a.m. and recounts the times throughout the night when she or Marco had gone next door to check on their baby, who they left at their house. Anne also checks the baby monitor with the broken video screen that they brought to the Stillwell’s house. She feels annoyed that Cynthia insisted that they bring no children for Graham’s birthday party and the...