The prologue's frame — Sam and Nate in the prison in Panama, the treasure of Henry Avery the prize, Rafe Adler the partner who will not share. The murder is the game's character introduction for Rafe — not a villain made by circumstances but a person who was always this, who has the wealth and the ambition and the complete absence of the conscience that Nate keeps failing to operate without. The prison warden demanded a cut. Rafe declined to negotiate.

The normal life of the title is the life Nate and Elena are building in New Orleans when Sam reappears — the framing that makes what follows possible, the before that the sequel's adventure will threaten. The murder in Panama is the seed of everything that grows.