For generations two peoples have fought over the mountains of Thanador. The native Tarra’ans hate the recent arrivals, the Contolte, and eventually that hatred turns to war. Yaotl and Jensen, though, are a Tarra’an and a Contolte who live as brothers. Yearning to stay together, they find no safe place where both can be welcomed.

Born across the great water, Nadia is a missioner from the clinic who is able to walk outside the battle. When her path crosses that of the two men, one of them injured, they decide to escape down the burning, warring mountain together. She leads them to a Tarra’an village that claims to love TrueGod and promises to protect both the men, but some hatred takes time to fade, and even here they can’t escape the danger that swallows the mountain.

But they also find allies and friends, even a little romance, and when ancient evil threatens to destroy the whole mountain, love and friendship may be the only things to save any of them, Tarra’an and Contolte alike.