Russia's failing war in Ukraine tempts China to take all of East Siberia. Its plan has two parts. First, build a pipeline to the Arctic – under a Russian license. But the pipeline will be heavily fortified, ready to provide a western wall when Chinese forces march north in the second part of the conquest. Protected by the western wall, China can take all the Pacific coast and much of the Arctic.
Catherine has no interest in Russia or China. She lives a quiet life in Madison, Wisconsin, enjoying the arrival of spring. Then her husband is killed as her daughter is kidnapped and carried to Moscow. Catherine races after her daughter only to be captured and taken to Siberia. Her job? Prevent a Chinese takeover of Russian lands. Why would she help the Russians? And how should she respond to the Chinese leader who declares her to be his property?
For over a year she lives locked in a converted shipping container while the Chinese fight their way north – north to the Arctic Ocean and the conquest of Siberia.