On the night of April 25, 1985, Captain Edward Shank leads a team of Seattle police officers in a stakeout outside a deteriorating apartment building. When Rufus Wedge, a middle-aged man, emerges from the building and reaches toward his back pocket, Edward and four officers open fire. Wedge collapses with multiple gunshot wounds and dies quickly.

An officer confirms that they have killed the Beacon Hill Butcher, a serial killer who has terrorized the Pacific Northwest. While the other officers check the body, Edward remains in the shadows. He holsters his weapon, steps into the light, and quietly tells himself that the killings are over.

In the present day, 80-year-old Edward Shank stands in his house on Poppy Lane, smoking a cigar beside his prized piano. After a recent fall injured his hip, he has reluctantly agreed to move into Sweetbay Village Retirement Residence, giving his grandson Matthew the house. Edward reflects on his late wife Marisol a Juilliard-trained pianist, and their daughter Lucy, both of whom once played the piano. He knows he must leave the house and its 50 years of history behind.

As he examines the piano, Edward notices a fresh dent in the corner. When the moving truck arrives, he takes one final look around—his eyes lingering on the dent left when he killed Marisol four months earlier by smashing her head into the piano.