The chapter opens by establishing that no one aboard a delayed afternoon flight from Hobart to Sydney will later recall seeing a particular lady board the plane. She is contrasted at length with the many memorable passengers on the flight: an injured hipster, a frazzled young mother with a baby and toddler, a stooped elderly couple, chatty tourists, an extremely pregnant woman, an extremely tall man, a jittery teen, shiny-eyed honeymooners in bridal clothes, and others. The lady, by contrast, is unremarkable in every way—quiet, alone, and drawing no attention.

The flight is delayed on the tarmac for ninety-two minutes due to a "minor mechanical issue." During the extended delay, a variety of passengers react with frustration, despair, and creative self-medication. The baby howls for twenty minutes until a square-jawed man with a gray buzz cut entertains it with his jangly keys. A woman in a leopard-print jumpsuit demands to disembark, two twentysomething friends gossip loudly about a mutual friend named Poppy, and two thirtysomething men discuss protein shakes at length. Throughout all of this, the lady in seat 4D says nothing, presses no call button, and makes no complaints.

Once the flight is finally airborne, the lady continues to do nothing noteworthy. The narrator lists a series of outrageous in-flight behaviors—cutting toenails, slapping flight attendants, attempting to open the emergency door—and confirms the lady does none of them. Passengers will later struggle to estimate her age, placing her anywhere from her fifties to her early eighties. She has soft silver-gray hair, wears a green-and-white collared blouse with slim gray pants, and has a silver brooch she frequently touches. She is described as "semitransparent"—not invisible, but utterly unremarkable.

The chapter ends with a foreboding revelation: the lady will later become known as "the Death Lady" because of something she does on this flight. Even when it happens, it takes longer than expected for passengers to react—for someone to shout, for filming to begin, and for call buttons to light up across the cabin like a pinball machine.