Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to physical abuse, domestic violence, psychological manipulation, death by suicide, alcohol use disorder, and substance misuse.

The novel opens with three epigraphs. The first is an article from Outside magazine about the history of unsolved disappearances in the Appalachian Mountains. It suggests that humans, not the wilderness, are often to blame for the misfortunes, deaths, and disappearances of others. The next article, dated 1943, addresses the disappearance of three-year-old Ruby McTavish during a picnic in the mountains. The last epigraph defines the word “changeling” as “[a] child put in place of another child” (5).

Chapter 1 begins with Jules Brewster coming home, still dressed in her costume from the living history museum where she works. Although they now live in Colorado, Jules and her husband, Camden McTavish, met in California 10 years ago when he was bartending. She was captivated by his heterochromia, which gives him one blue eye and one brown, but further, she was attracted by his calm confidence. Now, as she walks in the door, Camden tells her that he got a call from his family, and they want him to come home.