It covers the attempts to save, and ultimate destruction of, the islands of Gelle-Geu due to the increasing instability of the magical Star of the Tides, which resides beneath the waves just off the coast of the archipelago.

[2][3][4] The novel is set in Lemberg's secondary world Birdverse, about a thousand years prior to the events of The Four Profound Weaves, on the archipelago Gelle-Geu, and alternates its viewpoint between the two primary characters, Erígra Lilún and Ranra Kekeri.

Lilún and Ranra discuss the increasingly unstable nature of the Star and the growing hazard the situation presents to the islands, but have differing opinions of how it should be handled.

As the stability of the islands worsens, Ranra has her advisor, Ulár, chart a way to connect many people with magical deepnames to build enough power to calm the Star.

Lilún continues to advocate for healing the Star, and they research ways to go about this with Ranra, but as the situation grows increasingly desperate and the Mother Mountain begins to erupt, the connection of peoples' deepnames is determined to be the best hope.

The prior Starkeeper to Ranra, Terein, tried to sound the alarm about the state of the Star but was rebuffed and mocked so strongly, he withdrew completely and gave up any hope of intervention.

[8] Publishers Weekly called it "bittersweet and lovely" and noted that "brisk action balances the meditations on gender and glimpses of the complex magic system".