Three men of the Night's Watch ride out beyond the Wall after receiving reports that lawless tribes of wildings have been sighted near the border. Will, a slight ranger, verifies this information when he finds the dismembered corpses of the group's men, women and children scattered in a frozen glade. He carries the news back to his comrades, Gared and Ser Waymar Royce, but before they can investigate further, the bodies disappear. As Will searches the area, the forest fills with Royce's screams and the gallop of the group's bolting horses. Will races through the trees and comes face to face with Gared - moments before a shadowy creature with glowing blue eyes severs his friend's head and tosses it at Will's feet.

In the courtyard of Winterfell, young Bran Stark struggles with archery practice as his family looks on. His tomboy sister, Arya Stark, abandons her training in needlework to fire a shot over Bran's shoulder with her own bow, skewering the target's center and sending the Starks into laughter. Their mirth is cut short, however, by news from Ser Rodrick Cassel, the house's Master at Arms: "The guards rode in from the hills. They've captured a deserter from Night's Watch." Lord Ned Stark knows immediately what he must do, and orders his boys to saddle their horses.

On a hillside outside the castle walls, the ranger Will stands before Ned, understanding that his sentence is death but swearing that he saw White Walkers. Ned draws his family's ancient blade, called Ice, and metes out the punishment as his sons - even young Bran - look on. Afterward, he tells his the boy: "Our way is the old way. The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword." When Bran asks his father if the deserter really saw the White Walkers, Ned assures him that they've been gone for thousands of years.

On their return to Winterfell, the party comes across a dead direwolf - a monstrous creature rarely seen south of the Wall. The wolf birthed a litter of pups before her death, and Jon Snow, bastard son to Ned, convinces his father that it's an omen: The direwolf is the sigil of House Stark, and Ned's five true-born children are meant to have the pups. As they walk away, Jon spies an albino runt cast to the side and takes it for himself.