The first third of the novel is a fictional magazine investigative report by young, aspiring journalist Hannah entitled "A Fool's Gold". The work is an expose about a party in a barn in West Yorkshire during the COVID-19 pandemic, during the COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom. The party in the barn, contravening lockdown rules, is hosted by a group of anarchists known as The Universalists, who aspire to form a separate micro-society. During that party, the leader of The Universalists is bludgeoned nearly to death with a gold bar. The gold bar and the barn belonged to London banker Richard, who becomes vilified, losing his job and his home, after the piece is published. The young man who attacked the group leader, a partygoer named Jake, is aimless in life with no goals. His mother is Miriam Leonard (nicknamed Lenny) who is a newspaper columnist for The Telegraph and The Observer. Her columns are on the topics of sex, race, class, politics and social justice. Often, she is critical of progressive, social justice initiatives, being staunchly against Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and writing a book titled "No Mo' Woke", critical of wokeness. Lenny's columns are sensationalistic; purposefully written to evoke strong emotions and prey on biases in her readers at the expense of accurate reporting.
After the feature is released, Hannah sees increased success as a journalist, but her fame is limited, quickly fading as modern society moves on to the next fad.
