Offred narrates her present existence in the Republic of Gilead. She describes her role as a Handmaid, bound to the household of a Commander and his wife, allowed to leave the house only once each day to walk to food markets whose signs are pictures because women are forbidden to read. Once a month she must lie on her back and pray that the Commander will make her pregnant, as the regime values Handmaids solely for their reproductive potential amid declining birth rates. Offred then recalls the world before Gilead: a life with her husband, Luke, the love she shared and the protection she gave their daughter, a job that provided her own income, and access to knowledge—all of which have been stripped away.