Halifax, Canada. 1812. Alistair Dunhill, agent for the Ministry of the Arcanum, is summoned to the mutilated remains of prominent merchant, Charles Ramage Prescott. Unlike other ministry agents, Dunhill feels he has no true arcane abilities known as Talent. His skill is more passive in nature. He can smell magic, and Prescott's home reeks of it: In spite of the horror he beheld, it was the smell that alarmed Dunhill most. Not the salty ocean air that flowed in from the open door. Not the floral scent of cut flowers in nearby vases or the wood polish of linseed. This scent was faint, hiding in the shadows and around corners: a misplaced combination that tickled his nose like a sneeze that would not come.

Believing his assignment to British North America as Mad King George's punishment for a perceived failure of a mission years earlier, Dunhill sees an opportunity for redemption. If he can capture the killer, he might reclaim the king's good graces and return home to England. His investigation is complicated when the newly founded United States of America declares war on England and Canada.

From high over the Atlantic in flying ships war to the Niagara Peninsula of Upper Canada, Dunhill discovers both his search and the war are intertwined. In this diverse alternate-history, a mix of magic, steampunk technology, and Algonquin lore culminate in an epic battle between Dunhill and a mythical creature known as a wendigo, a battle that holds the future of a nation hanging in the balance.