Danny Gilchrist, host of the podcast Always Out There, greets his listeners. He announces that his usual programming will be preempted by a new serialized podcast, The Girls, hosted by his producer West McCray. This story is about family and small-town America and begins “with a dead girl” (1).

West McCray begins his podcast. The story takes place in Cold Creek, Colorado, a very poor community with few resources. West notes that its residents are focused on simply trying to survive.

West had been in the area before while working on a podcast about small towns in America. At that time, he overheard people discussing the murder of 13-year-old Mattie Southern. West was not interested in covering the incident, as it was too familiar a story.

West receives a call from May Beth Foster, Mattie’s surrogate grandmother, asking him to help investigate the disappearance of Mattie’s older sister, Sadie Hunter. May Beth shows him the abandoned schoolhouse where Mattie was found dead due to blunt force trauma to the head.

May Beth asks West to help bring back Sadie because she can’t bear another dead girl.