It's a seemingly idyllic summer in 1935, and identical twins Niles and Holland Perry play on the bucolic family farm. Holland is an amoral mischief maker while Niles is more sympathetic. Niles carries a tobacco tin with him containing several secret trinkets, including the Perry family ring, which had been handed down to Holland, the older twin. Their obnoxious cousin Russell finds them in the apple cellar below the barn—a place they are not supposed to play—and sees the contents of the tobacco tin. Russell states that the ring was supposed to be buried, and promises to "tell on" Niles to his father, Niles' Uncle George. Uncle George padlocks the door to the cellar, but there is another stairway inside the barn, giving them access.