The narrative shifts back in time to when Maven Blackthorn and her daughter, Beatrix, arrive in Solstice, Vermont, 12 years after Maven fled following her mother’s death, which was potentially a murder. Accustomed to Manhattan, Bea is frightened by the old-fashioned, fog-shrouded town, which makes her think of true-crime documentaries. Maven reflects that the Blackthorn women go feral if left in nature too long.

Quentin, the ancient caretaker, picks them up in a black Cadillac. Tall, stooped, and corpselike in appearance with pale skin and wispy white hair, “Q” is nonspeaking but conveys through eye contact that the powerful Croft family already knows about Maven’s return. As they drive to Blackthorn Manor through the rusty iron gates, Maven’s anxiety increases. The brooding stone house is a mix of architectural styles constructed over hundreds of years. Bea remarks that it looks haunted. Maven thinks of the “hungry goblins” of her past and touches the pistol in her coat pocket.

Maven and Bea enter the house, which smells of Maven’s childhood: old books, herbs, and decay. Maven’s aunts, Esme and Davina, both tall and youthful, are dressed in identical black gowns. They have the pomegranate-red hair that all the Blackthorn women share, though Maven has dyed hers black for years, ignoring her mother’s encouragement to embrace what makes her different. Esme takes Bea to the kitchen while Davina questions Maven, who has not told Bea anything about their family. The house is filled with books and features a labyrinth of corridors and staircases.

While Bea is asleep, Maven drinks wine with her aunts, who joke about their reputation as outcasts in town. They are proud to be different and judge Maven for dyeing her hair. They all miss Elspeth, Maven’s mother. When asked about Bea’s father, Maven says they had different ideas about fatherhood. A cold wind rattles the windows, and the aunts say that someone, or something, has arrived. Maven rushes upstairs and sees a tall figure in black outside the gate: Ronan Croft, her first love and worst nightmare. He disappears in the darkness.

Maven lies awake all night, thinking of her past relationship with Ronan. At dawn, she checks on the sleeping Bea and worries about her daughter’s approaching adolescence, remembering her own traumatic experiences. In the kitchen, Esme serves an herbal tea and reveals that she had nightmares about dark snakes trying to enter the house. When Bea joins them for pancakes, she notes that Maven never cooks. Maven looks forward to going back to New York. Davina announces that they must leave at 10 o’clock for the viewing for Lorinda, Maven’s grandmother, at the funeral home.

At Anderson’s Funeral Home, Esme mentions Ronan’s father, Elijah Croft, was recently attacked by ravens. Mr. Anderson nervously greets them, bringing them to a red-and-black, garishly decorated viewing room. At the casket, they find a glossy black bird feather beside Lorinda’s body. Davina gives Bea a pearl-handled knife and silver coins to place in the casket, explaining that Lorinda will need them to battle underworld figures and pay the ferryman for passage across the River Styx. Maven, worrying that the aunts are traumatizing Bea, drinks whiskey from Esme’s flask.

The viewing begins. Respectful Germans Ingrid and Helmut Schneider, who run the local bakery, arrive first. Becca Campbell, Maven’s childhood bully, who once spat on Maven in front of everyone, shrieks and lunges at Maven but trips, landing on her face. Esme stops Helmut from helping Becca, and Davina whispers something that makes the woman scream and flee. Elijah Croft (the patriarch of the Croft family and Ronan’s father, as well as and the former head of Croft Pharmaceuticals) arrives in a wheelchair, sporting a bandaged eye. The Blackthorns and Crofts have an ancient feud dating back to the time when Magistrate Levi Croft sentenced Megaera Blackthorn to death for witchcraft. Esme tells Elijah that he is not welcome, and he demands that they stop sending birds to attack him. Outside, a flock of ravens gathers in a maple tree, staring through the window at Maven. Sirens wail, and Maven senses distant fire.

On the drive home, Bea asks if they’re in the Mafia. Though Maven says they are not, she cannot claim that they have a “normal” family. Davina and Esme claim that Maven could have beaten Becca in a fight, recounting how Maven chopped down a maple tree outside Blackthorn Manor’s gate as a teenager. Vandals would hang hateful messages calling the Blackthorn women “witches” and “whores,” and Maven had to see the message from her window every morning. Driving through town, they pass Becca Campbell’s house, which is engulfed in flames. Davina gazes out with a secretive smile.

Unable to sleep, Maven wanders the house at midnight. After checking on the sleeping Bea, she sees light from under Lorinda’s bedroom door. Inside the empty room, the mounted owl, Quill, seems to watch her. She examines a photograph of seven Blackthorn women: her great-grandmother, Cleda; Cleda’s three daughters, Tisi, Perse, and Lorinda; and Lorinda’s daughters, Esma, Davina, and Elspeth. Maven recalls her mother explaining the lack of men in the family photo by saying that the Blackthorn women are too smart to fall for marriage’s trap. When she sees that Lorinda’s leather journal that has fallen from a shelf, Maven hears laughter echoing through the house. She then sees Ronan outside the gate, smoking.

She goes out barefoot and threatens to shoot Ronan. He calls her “Bugs,” which irritates her. Maven never told her aunts about their relationship. Now, she orders Ronan to prevent his father from attending Lorinda’s funeral. She notes that Ronan has grown taller and broader, and she is attracted to his voice and confidence. Maven accepts a drag from Ronan’s cigarette, and as Ronan walks away without looking back, Maven wishes that he would turn back and look at her.

Ronan reflects on Maven’s return after 12 years of no contact. He finds her as alluring as ever, now a woman with dangerous curves and sharpened claws. A twisted part of him wants to punish her for leaving, and he fantasizes about breaking into Blackthorn Manor. He masturbates while thinking of Maven and their past intimacy.

Maven wakes with a nosebleed, feeling dread about Ronan. In the kitchen, Davina and Bea are baking biscuits, which reminds Maven of cooking with her mother; Maven has not cooked since Elspeth’s death. Bea mentions a white cat, which Davina identifies as Luna, Elspeth’s pet, now 25 years old. The healthy-looking Luna enters and rubs against Maven. Esme reports another nightmare about snakes invading the house. Quentin brings a brilliant blue morpho butterfly into the kitchen, a species that is not native to the area. As he brings it to Maven’s finger, she recites facts about it, including that it was once thought to be a witch’s spirit in shape-shifted form. Bea describes her dream of being a big black dog that barks at the moon. The aunts stare at Maven, knowing that black dogs are bad omens for their family, but Maven insists that dreams do not have any meaning. The phone rings. After a tense conversation, Davina announces that Mr. Anderson has lost Lorinda’s body.

The family is stunned. Based on the true-crime documentaries she has seen, Bea theorizes about a black market for body parts. Davina explains that Mr. Anderson conducted an exhaustive search and reviewed security footage, which showed no one entering or exiting the building. The casket was undisturbed, but the body vanished. Maven decides to investigate the matter herself and leaves Bea with her aunts. The phone rings again, and Maven answers. It is Ronan offering to help, but Maven pretends he has the wrong number and hangs up.

At the funeral home, Maven sees Ronan’s car and tells Q to call the police if she does not come back in 15 minutes. She finds Ronan smoking in the lobby, and he details all eight times they had sex. Maven pretends not to remember, but she privately recalls enjoying sex with Ronan. She calls him the Latin name for a parasitic isopod. He laughs, and when Maven searches the funeral home, she finds nothing. However, she notes that the door to the parlor where the viewing was held is now locked. When she returns, Ronan asks Maven if “our daughter” knows who her real father is.