Sixteen-year-old Taran Carmine has spent her life keeping people at a distance. Haunted by her mother Aella's disappearance and her father's abuse, Taran relies on anger as armor, convinced that love is something she can neither give nor receive. But when she sets out to recover the stolen Storm and Sky Sustainer, Taran is forced to confront the walls she has built around her heart. Through danger, unexpected alliances, and the echoes of her mother's wisdom, she must learn to trust, to forgive, and to open herself to love-discovering that true strength comes not from keeping others out, but from letting them in.