Trapped in a web of her own creation, Skade Felsdottir, a gifted but deeply troubled photojournalist, returns to a place she swore never to go back to: the town where she grew up— a town that forever hosts her darkest traumas and secrets— to try and finish a book project. She reconnects, against her better judgment, with an old boyfriend, and meets a deeply traumatized and broken young woman, Kitten " Kit" Dyer: toweringly tall, awkward, achingly lonely, and savant-gifted as a puppet creator and puppeteer. As Skade and Kit work feverishly to get Skade' s book finished before her deadline, the two of them begin a parallel journey toward healing together, until a shocking revelation and a critical failure of judgment put Skade on a tipping point between life and oblivion. We are all drowning, and we are all rescuers.