With the Storm Lord dead, Cordelia Ross and Simon Lazlo return to Gale, to normality, but when they find the populace poisoned by the drushka, it's clear the aliens must be dealt with before life can be anything near normal. In the north, Patricia Dué takes control of Gale's mine with Jonah, the servant she created in Dillon Tracey's old body. She thinks controlling the humans' only source of metal will bring her power, but her past won't be banished so easily.

Amidst the chaos and conflict, a prophet predicts that true calamity is still to come, and the only way to stop it may be a murderous widow looking for revenge. As factions splinter and reconnect, the fate of Calamity lies uncertain, and even the prophets can't see every ripple on the horizon.