A mob of villagers marches along a river path toward the five Mansfield sisters, Anne, Elizabeth, Hester, Grace, and Mary, who stand beside a man’s freshly dead body. Evidence of a struggle, including a bite mark on the man’s fist, convinces the villagers that the sisters are his killers. Rumors circulate that the sisters have begun a demonic transformation into dogs, with two competing accounts: Some say Anne was the first to change, barking in the lane, while others insist the contagion began with Mary, then spread in order through Grace, Hester, Elizabeth, and lastly Anne. The villagers perceive the girls as wicked creatures with bushy tails and pointed teeth. Their collective anger is exacerbated by a severe heatwave, failing crops, and their own private miseries. The sisters watch silently as the vengeful mob, chanting their names, draws closer.

Pete Darling, the local ferryman, thinks he is special because he believes he once ferried an angel across the River Thames. His routine is disrupted when he sees the five Mansfield sisters waiting for him, and he feels a strange unease, perceiving them as wild and inhuman. He takes them across the river in silence.