Eighteen-year-old Petronella (Nella) Oortman arrives at her new home in Amsterdam, having traveled from her rural home in Assendelft. The house stands on the Golden Bend of the Herengracht Canal, Amsterdam’s wealthiest area. An unsmiling older woman eventually opens the door. Mistaking the woman for the housekeeper, Nella explains she is Johannes Brandt’s new wife. The woman says she is Johannes’s sister, Marin, and that her brother is not there. Marin introduces the servants. Johannes’s servant, Otto, is the first Black person Nella has met. The maid, Cornelia, looks at her with undisguised curiosity, and Nella feels she is being ridiculed. She is also surprised that a wealthy merchant like her husband has only two servants.

Nella is accompanied by her pet parakeet, Peebo. Despite Nella's protests about the cooking fumes, Marin insists Peebo’s cage must go in the kitchen. Nella’s bedroom has a view of the canal, but the room’s walls display paintings of dead animals and overripe fruit, which unsettle her. After a frugal meal, Nella asks if they have any marzipan. Marin tells her they rarely have sugar in the house, as it is bad for the soul.