- The island that the nameless man has landed on is referred to as "Isle des Chevaliers" by the narrator. There are a lot of fancy winter houses on it.
- It turns out that the island has quite the history. When slaves from Haiti were first brought to the island hundreds of years earlier, many thought that this island was at the end of the world. And for many of them, it was, since it would be the last place they'd ever work and live.
- The island used to have lots of unique natural features, but the explorers and colonists ruined it all when they ploughed the land and tried to force nature to do what they wanted it to do. The narrator describes this activity in terms just as violent as the ones he/she uses to describe the way the slaves were treated.
- High up the island's hills stands a gigantic house called L'Arbe de la Croix. It is owned by a guy named Valerian Street, who has gone to a lot of trouble to install a greenhouse on one side of it.
- It turns out that this house is like a holiday retreat for Valerian, only it has slowly turned into his permanent residence. He refuses to go back to Philadelphia, where his main house is supposed to be.
- We hear different people's names, like Sydney or someone called the "Principal Beauty," but don't know whom they refer to yet.
- We're plunged into the middle of a conversation between two people who are talking about the Valerian. It looks like Valerian loves to spend time sitting in his greenhouse sipping drinks and staring at all of the trees and flowers he likes to grow. One of the speakers thinks he's a crazy old man, while the other speaker tries to defend Valerian's hobbies.
- Despite Valerian's claims that he'll be heading back to The States soon, one of the speakers guarantees the other that Valerian will stay on Isle des Chevaliers until he dies.
- The narrator gives us a funny little anecdote about how Valerian made friends with the local physician, Dr. Michelin. Valerian went to the guy in the middle of the night with tooth pain, and the doctor just shot him full of drugs and laughed with him all night. Ain't that sweet?
- We also hear about how Valerian first laid eyes on his second (and current) wife while she was riding a float in a parade in Maine. She sounds like she was some kind of beauty queen when she was younger. It also sounds like Valerian fell in love with her the second he saw her.
- While Valerian is chilling in his greenhouse, the character named Sydney comes up to him and reminds him that the mail delivery to the island has been cut back to once every two weeks. They bicker back and forth for a few minutes about whether Valerian should buy a boat for his wife or whether he has corns or bunions on his feet. As the conversation unfolds, we can figure out that Sydney is Valerian's butler.
- Valerian finds out that his wife asked for something from Sydney earlier in the morning. He suspects that it was booze, since he thinks his wife is turning into an alcoholic. Sydney promises that he hasn't been bringing her booze, but Valerian is skeptical. He asks to speak with some other character named Jade because he thinks she'll give him the truth.
- Apparently, Valerian's wife is also expecting company on the island for Christmas. Someone has shipped a red trunk and will be arriving behind it shortly. Valerian seems to know right away whom the trunk belongs to.
- Anyone intrigued yet?...
- Valerian wishes out loud that he could just enjoy his giant house without everybody buzzing around him and trying to invite tons of people over.
- Valerian and Sydney spend some more time arguing over what type of shoes will best protect their feet in a tropical temperature. Dang those pesky first world problems.
- It sounds like Valerian doesn't believe that the owner of the red trunk is going to show up for Christmas. Apparently, the trunk's owner has promised to come before, but has always bailed and left Valerian's wife upset. Valerian feels annoyed by his wife's delusion.
- At this point, Valerian's wife enters the greenhouse.
- She sits down to some pineapple. The person who prepared this pineapple is named Ondine, and she has left the spiky skin on the underside of the pineapple just to confuse and hurt Valerian's wife, whose name is Margaret.
- So by this point, we're thinking, "Okay, the house's cook doesn't like Margaret all that much, and neither does Valerian."
- Valerian scolds Margaret when she asks for a mango for breakfast, saying that the fruit contains a lot of calories.
- Valerian tells Margaret that he knows she's expecting someone for Christmas. She gets defensive and tells him it's not fair for him to force her to live all alone out in the jungle.
- Just to hurt his wife's feelings, Valerian tells her that the person she's expecting—their son Michael—is not going to show up for Christmas.
- Margaret says that if Michael doesn't come, she's going to leave the island and move in with him. Valerian thinks that that she's a super-smothering mother. A (s)mother?
- They bicker for a while more, and Valerian ends the conversation by making Margaret promise him that she won't move in with Michael unless Michael agrees to it first. He doesn't want her imposing on their son.
- Margaret reaches out for some breakfast, then takes her hand back. Valerian apologizes and says he totally made up the thing about mangoes being high in calories. Turns out that the guy sometimes acts like a jerk for its own sake.
- They turn their conversation to the character named Jade, who is apparently staying with them but not related to either of them. She sounds like she's young, well-educated, and well-travelled.
- Valerian says that he'll help Jade with money if she wants to start her own business, like open a shop.
- Valerian tells Margaret that he wishes she still got along with their servants, especially the cook Ondine. When they were first married, Margaret used to hang out with Ondine all the time and gossip. But now they never say boo to each other. Remember this, Shmoopers, because it'll be important later on.
- Valerian and Margaret end their conversation with whether it's more traditional to serve a turkey or a goose for Christmas dinner. A life-and-death argument if there ever was one… sigh.
- Once we leave the Streets (Valerian and Margaret's last name), we enter the kitchen of the house, which is the realm of Sydney (the butler) and Ondine (the cook).
- When she finds out that Margaret has been asking about turkey for Christmas, Ondine tells Sydney that she wants to be on the first plane off the island. Then she talks some more smack about Margaret and about how she (Ondine) had to be the one who showed love for Margaret and Valerian's son, Michael, while he was growing up.
- Ondine adds that she thinks Michael doesn't want to be anywhere near his mother. We also find out that Margaret was only seventeen years old when she married Valerian.
- While they're chatting, the character named Jade shows up at the kitchen doorway. Sydney and Ondine's faces light up when they see her. Jade refers to Ondine affectionately as Nanadine because the woman is her aunt and Sydney is her uncle. Ondine and Sydney are married and Sydney has been taking care of Valerian ever since he was a little boy.
- Ondine mentions that the house must have a thief in it, because someone keeps eating up all the chocolate she orders in. Sydney worries that it might be rats, but Ondine insists that whoever takes the chocolate has been folding the wrapper after he/she is done.
- Jade talks to Ondine briefly about her (Jade's) modeling career. It sounds like she has done well for herself.
- Sydney says he hopes Jade will never leave him and Ondine, since Jade is all they have.
- The three of them hear someone outside and look out the window to see Yardman, an old local man, coming up the driveway. Despite his old age, Yardman is the groundskeeper and general lackey of the Street family. There definitely seems to be a hierarchy among the servants, though, because Sydney and Ondine consider themselves to be way above Yardman in terms of both their jobs and their moral character. There seems to be a division in general between the black Americans on the island and the local black Dominicans.