The story centers on a family of priests: Johannes, Elisabeth and their sons August and Christian. Johannes is God-like to his sons - he gives, loves, and punishes. His favoritism for August and his disappointment with Christian forces both into making desperate choices in order to either gain his love or break free from him.

In a world cleaved in two by a massive barrier of perpetual darkness, a young soldier uncovers a power that might finally unite her country. But as she struggles to hone her power, dangerous forces plot against her. Thugs, thieves, assassins and saints are at war now, and it will take more than magic to survive.

When a fertility doctor drunkenly inseminates herself with her ex-boyfriend's sperm, she scrambles to explain her pregnancy — and win back her lost love.