Melrid escaped the underground hazards of coal boring to patrol the streets as a warden, but now finds herself targeted by a rebellion led by a brother she thought was dead. The controlled pace of life in the closed city of Bade Foundry becomes unhinged as she fights to survive, but there is more to the rebels than friction bombs and assassinations. Melrid will struggle to maintain her loyalty to the industrial regime, contend with a rebellion at odds with itself, and hope for life beyond the iron city.