The scene opens with high school friends Quentin, Julia, and James walking though Brooklyn. Quentin and James are on their way to their college interviews with Princeton University. They are each 17 years old and in their senior year of high school. James and Julia are together, and hold hands as they walk. Quentin is attracted to Julia, but he knows that Julia likes him more as a friend. As they walk, Quentin reflects on why he is unhappy. Coming from a reasonably-good, middle-class home, with decent parents and good friends, Quentin knows he should be happy. Yet despite his very high GPA and performing all the rituals and sacrifices necessary to be happy, “happiness, like a disobedient spirit, refused to come” (5). Quentin believes there must be more to life and his thoughts drift to the fantasy book series Fillory and Further.

When Quentin was young, he started reading the series of Fillory books. There are five books in total and they follow “the adventures of the five Chatwin children in a magical land” called Fillory (6). Though almost an adult, Quentin remains engrossed by the books.