Nell Young, once a rising star in the cartography world, received her PhD in ancient cartography and had a promising career at the prestigious New York Public Library (NYPL) Map Division, where her father—Daniel Young, “one of NYPL’s most celebrated scholars” (4)—also worked. However, after the falling out with her father that occurred during an argument over the value of a collection of old maps in a box marked “junk,” her father dismissed her from her position. In the argument, Nell insisted the maps were priceless while her father declared them to be worthless.

Now, seven years after the “Junk Box Incident,” she works at Classic Maps and Atlases, which is simply referred to as “Classic” throughout the novel. Here, she creates fake reproductions of ancient maps (4). Nell dreams of returning to the NYPL, and her boss, Humphrey, encourages this ambition (7).

Nell arrives at Classic one day to find Humphrey in an unusually serious mood. Swann, Nell’s former mentor from the NYPL, has called about an emergency, and the police call, too. Nell returns to the NYPL’s Map Division for the first time in years, and Swann notifies her of her father’s death (13).