The world was perfect until Equ sent his children away to prove they were species worthy to exist. The Equus–horses, pegasuses, unicorns, zebra, ponies, and donkeys–survived on Hemlaza and formed a society of roaming herds.
Now fast-moving glaciers have appeared on the northern horizon of Hemlaza, threatening the way of life on the continent. For the Equus to survive, they will have to change and adapt their way of life.
Varon, a horse leader in his herd, receives visions from Equ that show him the Equus must find a way to cross the barren wasteland that is the glaciers if the Equus are to survive. However, few of the Equus believe him because the unicorns have always led the Equus.
As Varon works to convince the Equus of the truth of his visions, other gods seek to take advantage of the crisis with their own creations and destroy the Equus.
Varon, aided by Jalon the pegasus and Miskala the unicorn, begin to spread the word of what the glaciers truly represent and plan for a way to cross them.
Jalon is a long-time friend of Varon's, but she finds her loyalties in conflict when Varon is exiled from the herd for false teachings. She does not trust the unicorn leader of her herd, but to follow Varon into exile is considered a death sentence because they are at the mercy of predators, including griffins which have reappeared after believing to have been hunted to extinction during the Griffin War.
Miskala is a new unicorn leader of his herd and is faced with a different challenge to Equus beliefs when a unicorn mare gives birth to a hornless unicorn, which has never happened.
Varon, Jalon, and Miskala join together to begin forming their own Equus herd that will cross the glaciers and hopefully, allow the Equus to survive the challenges to come.
Dawn in Etrasco is the first book in the Equus Cycle that explores the stories of the survival of the Equus.