Content Warning: This section discusses physical assault, domestic abuse, substance use disorder, murder, and death.

August Salt rides the ferry to Saoirse Island, the home he left behind many years ago. He’s returning to fulfill his late mother Eloise’s wish of burying her ashes there. However, August is filled with trepidation at the thought of facing his past. His friend Eric phones him to check in and reminds him to search for official papers and ownership deeds. The ferry pulls into the harbor.

Emery Blackwood sneaks out of bed, leaving her lover, Dutch Boden, behind. She makes her way out and thinks about the ferries that bring tourists to their little island. On her walk, she sees that the trees have turned from green to autumn-colored overnight. Emery enters her tearoom, where tourists come for mystical brews. She encounters her meddling aunt Nixie, who talks to her about Dutch. He and Emery have been arguing about Emery’s resistance to committing to a life with him. After Nixie leaves, Emery starts preparing a bath of tea from her family’s sacred book, The Herbarium. Suddenly, a loud noise erupts, and Emery drops a glass jar.