Tiernan Callaghan is tied to a chair in the Ferrante family’s basement torture chamber, being beaten by the three Ferrante brothers: Achilles, Enzo, and Luca. The Ferrantes are furious with Tiernan because he killed Igor Rasputin, head of the Bratva (the Russian mob) in their territory. Tiernan argues that the Ferrantes should thank him since Igor was encroaching on their ground, but Luca explains that the killing makes them look weak. Tiernan explains that he “won’t stop until [he] kill[s] the entire [Rasputin] family” (16). The Ferrantes counter that Tiernan’s goal of killing Alexei “Alex” Rasputin (Igor’s son, who will become the next “pakhan,” or leader) risks igniting a vast conflict that they will be drawn into.

Achilles brings up an old grudge: Ten months ago, Tiernan killed a Ferrante soldier named Filippo while kidnapping a woman he was guarding. As punishment, Achilles carves out Tiernan’s left eyeball with a knife. Tiernan doesn’t flinch, silently vowing revenge. He’s then ordered to dispose of Russian bodies outside city limits in the future. After Enzo patches the wound and cuts him free, Tiernan leaves carrying Igor’s skull (a souvenir from the killing) and his own severed eyeball.

Lila Ferrante sits sketching at the courtyard fountain when she notices a man leaving her family mansion. She briefly hopes it’s Tate Blackthorn, whom she has a crush on and danced with at a party a year earlier. As she realizes that the man is a stranger, he notices and approaches her. He has fresh injuries—a missing eye covered in blood and a broken nose—and carries a human skull. Despite his gruesome appearance, Lila finds him strangely beautiful. He recognizes her and muses aloud about various ways he could harm her.

After untying the ribbon in her hair, the man—Tiernan—calls her “simple.” The word upsets Lila because of a ruse that dominates her life. She and her mother maintain the façade that she has an intellectual disability. Lila’s mother hopes that this deceit will protect her from being forced into an unhappy marriage with a cruel man, but Lila resents having to conceal her intelligence from everyone, including her father and brothers. She is deaf but can read lips and communicate using American Sign Language (ASL).

Tiernan shoves her head into the fountain, holds a knife to her eye, and places his severed eyeball in her palm. Though she understands everything, she remains silent. When he tells her to run, she flees back to the house, strangely entranced by the bizarre encounter.

Two weeks after her encounter with Tiernan, Lila attends her brother Luca’s wedding to Sofia Bandini on Crimson Key, the family’s private island. Her mother, Chiara Ferrante, discusses with friends how grateful she is that Lila’s intellectual disability protects her from marriage to cruel mobsters. Among the many reception guests, Lila spots Tiernan and a man who closely resembles him speaking with Tate Blackthorn.

Feeling isolated when couples pair off to dance, Lila slips away to a secluded beach. As she throws rocks into the ocean, an unknown man attacks her from behind. She fights back, but he overpowers her. Though she can’t see his face clearly in the darkness, she commits his eyes to memory. The stranger presses a chemical-soaked rag to her face, causing her to lose consciousness as he prepares to rape her.

Eight weeks after the attack, Lila is pregnant. Due to the darkness and having been drugged, she can’t recall the face of the man who attacked her. Lila pleads for an abortion and later overhears her parents arguing. Chiara begs Vello, Lila’s father, to take Lila to Italy for a discreet abortion, but he refuses on religious grounds and strikes Chiara across the face. Luca, Enzo, and Achilles warn Vello never to hit their mother again.

The family agrees that Lila must marry immediately to avoid scandal. She overhears them discussing her prospective husband, concurring that it’s important that she marry someone from outside the Camorra since it can’t ever be revealed that she was raped. She gradually deduces that the man they’re discussing is Tiernan Callaghan. Her father and brothers discuss how a marriage between the Irish and Italian crime families has political value as well. Chiara objects, revealing that Tiernan terrorized Lila on the night of his torture. The Ferraro brothers are mostly shocked that Tiernan was alone with Lila and didn’t rape or kill her. Because her father and brothers believe that she has a disability, they have even less concern for her future happiness; her father callously remarks, “[H]ow much does she understand, really?” (49).

Despite Chiara’s protests, Vello orders an immediate meeting with the Irish clan. Lila realizes that she will be forced to marry Tiernan with no say in the matter.

Enzo and Achilles bring Tiernan to the Ferrante mansion, where he finds his father; his brother, Fintan Callaghan; and his twin sister, Tierney Callaghan, already present. Vello reveals that Lila was raped during Luca’s wedding and is now pregnant. He demands that Tiernan marry her and claim the child as his heir. Tiernan initially refuses. To his surprise, his father is in favor of the deal, arguing that the marriage would provide valuable port access for their operations. Tierney is also hopeful that her brother will agree: She’s currently bound by a previous deal negotiated when Achilles was holding her hostage. It stipulates that Achilles can choose her husband.

Tiernan becomes more interested in the deal; he finds Lila extremely attractive. After negotiation, Tiernan agrees to the marriage on the condition that the Ferrantes help him eliminate the Rasputin family and grant him control over the Harlem neighborhood in New York. Vello accepts, with the condition that Tiernan must find and kill Lila’s rapist.

Two weeks later, Lila marries Tiernan on Crimson Key. The wedding has 800 guests, and Lila’s family claims that the marriage occurred at Tiernan’s desire. The atmosphere is tense between the Italian and Irish guests. Lila is terrified of what’s to come; Luca secured a promise from Tiernan that he wouldn’t touch her on their wedding night, but no one has faith in his promises. Lila and her mother also learn from Enzo that they have arranged for Tiernan to have sex with another woman, hoping this will leave him disinterested in Lila. During the speeches, Tiernan delivers a threatening address claiming Lila as his property and warning guests never to look at, speak about, or approach his wife, promising brutal consequences for any disrespect. He then carries her upstairs.

In the honeymoon suite, Lila seizes one of Tiernan’s guns while he’s in the bathroom. When he emerges to find her pointing the gun at him, he seems amused. He attaches a silencer, hands the weapon back, and presses his chest against the muzzle, daring her to shoot. She pulls the trigger, grazing his shoulder. He’s unphased by the injury but forces the gun into her mouth, warning her not to do it again.

Lila locks herself in the bathroom, breaks a vase, and emerges with a glass shard. She stabs at Tiernan, but he disarms and restrains her, tying her to the bedpost while he cleans up the broken glass. He tells her that he won’t have sex with her that night and tells her to stop trying to kill him, as he finds it arousing. Exhausted, Lila curls up on the floor and cries herself to sleep while Tiernan ignores her.

In the morning, Enzo bangs on the door, demanding the bloodied sheets that are part of tradition (supposedly proving the bride’s “virginity” and the consummation of the marriage). Tiernan confirms to Enzo that he didn’t hurt Lila; he’s being paid $50 000 for every month that he allows the marriage to go unconsummated. Once Lila is awake, Tiernan instructs her in basic knife techniques. He then hands her a blade and offers his palm, telling her that this is her only free chance to harm him. Lila slashes his palm cleanly, following his exact instructions and confirming to him that she is perfectly capable of understanding instructions. He wonders if she’s a spy. He uses his blood to stain the sheets.

Tiernan leaves Lila guarded by his siblings and two of his trusted men. He meets with the Ferrante brothers and demands $80,000 for the next month of leaving Lila untouched. Next, Tiernan, Vello, and the Ferrante brothers discuss strategy for going to war with the Bratva. They plan to ambush them with a surprise strike in six to seven months and then divide their West Coast territory between the Irish and Italians. Tiernan explains that Alex Rasputin is currently in Russia, “tangled up in cleaning up the mess his father left behind” (92). The other three Rasputin siblings, Jeremie, Slava, and Katya, are in the United States. The Ferrantes seem startled by Tiernan’s detailed knowledge of the family and his impeccable Russian pronunciation. Vello reminds Tiernan to find Lila’s rapist, and Tiernan promises to deliver the man’s skull before the baby is born.

Tiernan drives Lila to his home in the Bronx. They arrive at Fermanagh’s, a former cathedral converted into a pub that stands out among the surrounding decay. Tiernan’s brother, Fintan, works behind the bar, and members of the Irish gang guard both the entrance and a stairway to the upstairs apartments. Tiernan shows Lila to her room, which has been furnished with pink bedding, a large dollhouse, and a tea set.

The narrative flashes back to 25 years earlier in Oymyakon, Russia. Igor Rasputin considers whether to kill Tiernan, one of a pair of Irish twins he has kept in a labor camp for three years. He has been slowly poisoning the child and believes that the boy is finally dying of fever. Igor is determined to get revenge because Tyrone Callaghan (the father of the twins) killed Igor’s beloved first wife, Luba (Igor is now remarried to woman named Natalia).

Igor’s sister, Olga, urges him to look at Tiernan. Igor is disgusted to find Tiernan sandwiched between his sister, Tierney, and Igor’s own son, Alex, who has covered the sick boy with his mink sable coat. Olga notes that the fever is breaking and that Igor is unwilling to outright murder the child. He resolves to prevent any bond from forming between his son and the Irish child.

During the first week of her marriage, Lila avoids Tiernan by maintaining opposite schedules. Chiara takes her to the Ferrante home in Long Island every day for lessons, therapy, and horseback riding. Chiara reassures her daughter that she’s working to get her out of the marriage. She also gives Lila a cell phone (something she has never allowed before), instructing her to text only her if there’s an emergency. Chiara is insistent that Tiernan can never know the truth about Lila. Lila feels alone; she doesn’t know what will happen if she gives birth or whether she will be allowed to keep the baby.