A young Madeleine Swann witnesses the murder of her mother by Lyutsifer Safin, whose family was assassinated by Swann's father Mr. White under orders from Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Swann shoots Safin and drags his body outside. When he suddenly regains consciousness, Swann flees across a nearby frozen lake, and Safin rescues her from drowning after she falls through the ice.
In the present, after Blofeld's arrest, Swann is in Matera with James Bond. She asks Bond to visit the grave of his ex-lover Vesper Lynd, where he narrowly survives an explosion orchestrated by a group of Spectre operatives led by Primo, a mercenary with a bionic eye. Bond evades Primo and his men and escapes with Swann, but he believes that Swann betrayed him, prompting him to end their relationship.