As Rebecca begins, the Second Mrs. de Winter talks about her dream that she has returned to Manderley. Supernatural powers allow her to pass through the gate to her house. She realizes that things have changed as nature encroached upon the property. Finally she sees the house, Manderley, which is now desolate. She says that sometimes in her dreams she goes back to an earlier time that began for her in the South of France.

The scene changes to a raging ocean where a man stands on the edge of a high cliff. The woman we heard speaking earlier calls to him to tell him not to jump. He tells her to leave, and she runs away. The young woman turns out to be the ladies' maid for a rich older woman, Mrs. Edythe Van Hopper. That night at a party, Mrs. Van Hopper...