Alicia Sterlyn has never believed in the Goddess, and she has never believed in Ende, the paradise said to wait beyond the continent, where souls rest after death in the presence of the divine. Her life has always belonged to the coast of Sommerset and her ailing parents, to the friends who fill the quiet places in her days, and to the dawn she trusts will always come again. Then red sails appear on the horizon, and everything she loves is taken in a single morning.

With her home reduced to ash and grief threatening to consume her, Alicia is pulled from the ruins by Liora, a gentle acolyte whose faith in Ende has yet to waver. They are soon joined by Roderic, a grieving swordsmith who has lost too much to believe in miracles, though some wounded part of him still hopes the dead may not be gone forever. Together, they set out across three warring kingdoms in search of a place most people call myth. Their road will carry them through great ruins, winter palaces, tall forests, endless deserts, and the heart of a war no kingdom truly understands.

As beauty and cruelty meet at every turn, Alicia must confront the hatred she carries, the faith she lacks, and the terrible possibility that Ende may be real after all, and that the road promising peace may demand more from her than grief ever has.