Magda does not want this city boy that Armin gives her, but it's take him in or leave him to starve in the open country. On her way to Crossroads, she finds out just how important he is to the balance of power between the cities themselves when her caravan is attacked by a city security force. But her troubles are not over when she does make it to the safety of Crossroads itself, not for her, not for the city boy, and not for her youngest daughter. Magda must negotiate her way between world politics, teenage rebellion, and the upset of everything she's been taught to believe in, and find an entirely new definition of family in the process.