The events in the novel cover a period of approximately 6 months (from Autumn through to Spring the next year), following directly after those in Across the Nightingale Floor.

Kaede returns to her childhood home to find the estate in disrepair, her mother dead, and her father in despair after losing a battle to Arai and not having the courage to take his own life.

She attracts the interest of an Imperial noble who lives nearby, Lord Fujiwara, who assists her in return for hearing her secrets.

Once Spring thaws the snow, Kaede excuses herself from Fujiwara, stating her intention to visit Arai, her overlord, to discuss her future.

Publishers Weekly's review was positive, writing "With quick, direct sentences like brushstrokes on a Japanese scroll, she suggests vast and mysterious landscapes full of both menace and wonder.

Hearn shows that middle novels of trilogies don't have to simply fill space between an exciting opening and conclusion.

"[1] On the other hand, a reviewer in the School Library Journal wrote "The novel suffers from middle-book syndrome in that just as the action starts to get exciting, readers are told to wait for book three.