In a distant future, eighteen-year-old Lugh is kidnapped, and while his twin sister Saba and nine-year-old Emmi are trailing him across bleak Sandsea they are captured, too, and taken to brutal Hopetown, where Saba is forced to be a cage fighter until new friends help plan an escape.

Saba leads a group of guerrillas against DeMalo and the Tonton, all while contemplating DeMalo's invitation to join him in building a New Eden.