Content Warning: The source material and this guide include references to and descriptions of sexual assault.

Eleven-year-old Malcolm Polstead lives on the outskirts of Oxford. His parents own an inn called the Trout, located opposite the Priory of Godstow on the banks of the River Thames. Malcolm and his dæmon, Asta, an animal-shaped outward expression of his soul, attend elementary school and help in the inn. In their free time, they are happiest playing by themselves, especially in Malcolm’s canoe, La Belle Sauvage. Malcolm is a content and happy child. His “only annoyance” is Alice, a girl who washes dishes in the Trout’s kitchen and relentlessly teases Malcolm.

Across the river in the priory, Malcolm often helps the nuns with chores and errands. In both the Trout and the priory, Malcolm listens closely and learns a lot from the nuns and the travelers in both establishments. Malcolm assumes he will take over ownership of the inn when he grows up. He would rather become a scholar or a philosopher’s apprentice, but he knows that his school doesn’t prepare its pupils for that kind of future, and he likes working in the inn.

One night, the Trout receives some unusual visitors—three men who sit in the more private Terrace Room.