Part 1 is narrated in first-person plural point of view by the titular swimmers, a dedicated community of local pool members. They describe the pool’s setting in its cavernous underground chamber and reveal the various reasons they come to the pool: to escape, heal, or feel like themselves again. Alice is subtly singled out: “one of us—Alice, a retired lab technician in the early stages of dementia” (3), while the majority of the swimmers remain unnamed and indistinct parts of “we.” Alice will become the focus of Parts 3-5, though, in Parts 1 and 2, she is presented as merely one of the various personalities in the group.

The swimmers, who run the gamut of professions, personalities, and circumstances, form a unique community at the pool, where they adhere ritualistically to individual routines and shared rules. They’re practically different people aboveground (the swimmers’ term for the world outside the pool facility), nearly unrecognizable to each other. In fact, running into a fellow swimmer away from the pool creates an awkward situation, as if they’re discovering a secret, shameful side to a trusted friend.