Caitlin Ross grew up in Detroit, but it never felt like home. With a mother who despises her and a pair of hypercritical sisters, she has reason enough to keep her distance. Memories of her year in a mental institution only firm her resolve never to go back. But Caitlin's mother is dying. If she stays away now, Caitlin will lose her last chance of reconciliation. More important, she'll never know why she never fit into her family, or why her mother spurned her from birth.

Family matters take a back seat once Caitlin arrives in the Motor City and runs into her former psychiatrist. He needs help with a problem patient; seeing herself in the girl, Caitlin reluctantly agrees. Her inquiry leads her to the realm of Faerie, where a plot is brewing to change the shape of the mortal world through a process with the potential to destroy the Universe. Caitlin and her troubled teen ally can stop it, but doing so will force Caitlin to confront devastating knowledge about her own origins. Now she must choose between personal safety and the fate of worlds.