Tate Collins moves from San Diego to San Francisco to attend graduate school. In San Francisco, she plans to stay with her older brother, Corbin, while she looks for a job as a registered nurse (RN). Corbin, an airline pilot, is away for the weekend when she arrives, and she meets the friendly elevator attendant, Cap. Cap looks at Tate’s birthmark and remarks, “Somebody stabbed you in the neck, young lady” (1). He shares his grandfather’s wisdom and explains that people’s birthmarks indicate how they died in a previous life. Tate regards the elderly man as harmless and makes polite small talk with him before getting in the elevator. A married man named Dillon enters the elevator. He tries to flirt with Tate, but she is leery of his advances.

Tate makes it up to her floor safely, but there’s a drunk man sleeping against the apartment door. She calls her brother and stays on the phone with him while she tries to ease past the man. He grabs her ankle, and she slams the door on him, only to realize she left her purse and suitcase in the hallway. Corbin calls his neighbor and friend from flight school, Miles, to help Tate.