In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

Eighteen-year-old Bitterblue, queen of Monsea, realizes her heavy responsibility and the futility of relying on advisors who surround her with lies as she tries to help her people to heal from the thirty-five-year spell cast by her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities.

As Hava sails across the sea toward Monsea with the world's only copies of the formulas for the zilfium weapon, she makes an unexpected discovery about one of the ship's crew, but before she can unravel the mystery, storms drive their ship off course, wrecking them in the ice far north of the Royal Continent.