Tensions grow in the overcrowded city of Yartha as it enters a blistering summer and a second year of severe drought. As the season reaches its zenith, scholar Byron Levant forgoes a life of privilege to devote himself to a long-forgotten religious sect, and in his mystical pursuits stumbles across a way to bring rain back to the land.

Swept up in the whirlwind of his reckless ambition are Syatt and Pox, lowborn thieves and petty criminals from Tabby Square, and Alma Bryde, a former soldier of the Yarthanguard with a mysterious past and a penchant for drink. As a grim shadow of violence looms over the city, citizens both lowborn and highborn whisper of blessings from the gods, the return of magic, and a dark prophecy that threatens them all.