In a world where writing and talking has become a privilege, and silence reigns with an iron fist, words become all that matters. 12-year-old Icarus struggles to get by in a city that silently screams with indifference and exudes misery, after his parents left him to never return. Crippled by loneliness, his only comfort is the sea. When Icarus meets Ari, an old fisherman, an unlikely friendship develops that slowly overcomes the barrier of mutism. After both discover that the map Icarus's parents left him is more than a mere forgotten object and could lead them to the vanished words, they set out on a quest that might very well herald the end of the silence, and a reunion with Icarus' parents. But dark forces stand against them, forces that will push the both of them to their limits in an effort to cling to the advantage a mute world has granted them. Forces that want to maintain the status quo at all cost. Fighting them will prove much harder than either Ari or Icarus could have ever imagined.