Chap­ter I begins in the qui­et, rur­al vil­lage of Vil­lon-sur-Sarthe, France, on July 29, 1764, where Addie LaRue, known as Ade­line in her ear­ly years, vis­its the grave of her father, Jean LaRue. Stand­ing at his grave, she is over­come with reflec­tion on her father’s life and the sim­plic­i­ty of his rest­ing place, which stark­ly con­trasts with the com­plex nature of her own exis­tence. The grave mark­er, which notes the year she left, sparks a flood of mem­o­ries, remind­ing her of every­thing she has lost over the centuries—familiar faces, the sound of her father’s laugh, and the warmth of past con­nec­tions. As she stands in silence, the pro­found sense of loss and the weight of her immor­tal­i­ty set­tle over her, set­ting the melan­cholic tone of the chap­ter.

Shift­ing her focus to Estele Magritte, anoth­er sig­nif­i­cant fig­ure in her life, Addie reflects on Estele’s world­view, which was intri­cate­ly con­nect­ed to nature and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty. Estele’s life and beliefs were marked by a deep under­stand­ing of the world around her, which was stark­ly dif­fer­ent from the con­ven­tion­al Chris­t­ian bur­ial that she received. In an effort to hon­or Estele’s lega­cy, Addie plants a sapling on her grave, sym­bol­iz­ing the con­nec­tion between Estele’s spir­i­tu­al­i­ty and the nat­ur­al world, while also affirm­ing Addie’s bond to the land and the peo­ple from her past. Despite the curse that ensures she remains for­got­ten by all she meets, this act of remem­brance high­lights her last­ing attach­ment to the peo­ple she has loved and lost. Through the small, sym­bol­ic ges­ture of plant­i­ng the sapling, Addie finds a way to resist the era­sure of her past, reaf­firm­ing the val­ues and con­nec­tions that define her, even as she moves through an ever-chang­ing world.

As the day goes on, Addie vis­its Estele’s aban­doned hut, reflect­ing on the pas­sage of time and the ways in which the phys­i­cal world around her has trans­formed. The hut, now emp­ty and decay­ing, serves as a reminder of the lives she has touched and lost, a sym­bol of the many tran­si­tions she has wit­nessed over her immor­tal exis­tence. In this moment, the nar­ra­tive delves deep­er into Addie’s inter­nal strug­gles, par­tic­u­lar­ly the nature of her curse and the small free­doms it allows her. For instance, she is still able to sus­tain a fire in the hut, a sub­tle yet sig­nif­i­cant act of con­trol in a life oth­er­wise defined by the inabil­i­ty to tru­ly leave a last­ing mark. The jux­ta­po­si­tion of the mate­r­i­al and the mag­i­cal in this set­ting rein­forces Addie’s posi­tion between two worlds—one where she is con­nect­ed to the past and one where she is doomed to exist in a con­tin­u­ous state of imper­ma­nence.

The chap­ter cul­mi­nates in a tense and charged encounter with Luc, the mys­te­ri­ous and manip­u­la­tive fig­ure who is seem­ing­ly the source of Addie’s curse. The con­ver­sa­tion between them is fraught with ten­sion, as Addie, who has long strug­gled against her fate, refus­es to sur­ren­der to Luc’s offer to end her curse in exchange for her youth and health. Luc, with his super­nat­ur­al pow­ers and cru­el demeanor, rep­re­sents the dark force that con­trols her exis­tence, threat­en­ing to strip away even more of her human­i­ty. Despite his intim­i­dat­ing threats and promis­es of end­ing her curse, Addie remains stead­fast, unwill­ing to yield to his manip­u­la­tions. This moment serves as a pow­er­ful tes­ta­ment to Addie’s inner strength and her refusal to give up her auton­o­my, even in the face of unimag­in­able suf­fer­ing.

The chap­ter mas­ter­ful­ly explores themes of mem­o­ry, loss, and defi­ance, set against the back­drop of an eter­nal strug­gle for iden­ti­ty and auton­o­my. Through Addie’s jour­ney, the nar­ra­tive exam­ines the essence of human resilience, reveal­ing how she con­tin­u­al­ly fights to pre­serve her sense of self amidst the over­whelm­ing forces that seek to erase her. Addie’s defi­ance in the face of Luc’s pow­er embod­ies the com­plex­i­ties of resis­tance and pow­er, shed­ding light on the del­i­cate bal­ance between sub­mit­ting to fate and main­tain­ing con­trol over one’s des­tiny. This chap­ter intro­duces read­ers to the intri­cate dance between pow­er and resis­tance that will define Addie’s jour­ney, set­ting the stage for a deep­er explo­ration of the forces that gov­ern her exis­tence and the lengths she will go to in order to reclaim her human­i­ty.