Prologue and Chapter 1 Summary

The story begins with a brief prologue. A young man named Richard Mayhew, who is drunk and sick, meets an old woman outside a Scottish pub. She initially mistakes him for a vagrant, but Richard explains that he isn't a beggar. He tells her that tomorrow he will be moving to London to begin a new job. The old woman then reads Richard's palm. In his hand, she foresees that Richard will go much farther than London, and the old woman warns him to beware of "doors." It begins to rain, and so Richard gives the old woman his umbrella.

The narrative shifts between Richard with the palm reader and scenes of a young woman named "Door" who is being pursued by two black-suited assassins, Croup and Vandemar. Door leads a frantic chase through an underground labyrinth. Finally, Door...