Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, death, death by suicide, sexism, racism, rape, ableist language, child death, and alcohol dependency. Some of the characters also use language that stigmatizes sex workers.

Mike Noonan is a 36-year-old novelist who lives in Derry, Maine, with his wife, Johanna “Jo” Arlen Noonan. In August 1994, Jo is leaving the drugstore when a garbage truck bumps into a car. The accident distracts bystanders from noticing that Jo has suddenly collapsed. Jo dies of a brain aneurysm. The medical examiner gives Mike the drugstore bag containing Jo’s purchases, which include a pregnancy test.

At Jo’s funeral, Mike tells Frank, Jo’s eldest brother, that Jo was around seven weeks pregnant when she died. The news comes as a shock to both of them since Mike is known to have a low sperm count. Mike and Jo had been actively trying to conceive children, having already picked out potential names for a son and a daughter—Andrew and Kia, respectively. Frank tries to comfort Mike, but Mike never asks anyone for help. After Frank returns home, Mike loses himself in finishing his latest novel manuscript, a thriller.

Mike privately grieves while trying to move on with his life as a widower.