Bingtown's old order is crumbling. The Vestrit family's fortunes have collapsed, foreign rule and a new Satrap's taxes squeeze the Old Traders, and unrest spreads through a city built on enchanted ships and uneasy alliances. Vivacia is now in the hands of the pirate Kennit, who courts the living ship's affection even as her bonded boy, Wintrow, struggles against the bloodlust she is acquiring in her captivity. Determined to recover her family's stolen liveship, Althea sails into danger with Brashen Trell, and on the shore the mysterious bead-maker Amber dreams of relaunching the blinded mad ship Paragon to carry them on a desperate rescue. Meanwhile, young Malta Vestrit is drawn ever deeper into the secretive magic and courtship customs of the Rain Wild Traders, where she attracts the attention of the masked Reyn Khuprus and stumbles toward truths buried beneath the acid river. Far at sea, the sea serpents continue their half-remembered migration, and the long-hidden connection between wizardwood, the serpents, and dragons begins to surface. Hobb deepens every thread of the trilogy here, tightening the bonds and rivalries among her sprawling cast while the larger mystery of what the liveships truly are moves toward revelation. Political collapse, family loyalty, forbidden longing, and ancient memory converge as separate journeys begin to bend toward one another, setting the pieces for the trilogy's reckoning.