Laisve is a refugee in a destroyed city-island, hunted in Raids and haunted by the spirits of her drowned mother and brother. She dives into the river and finds herself travelling between times and waterways in a race to rescue the future - and past - of other lost children.

A Lenape Nation iron-walker, a Dominican nun, a scarred acrobat and a piebald man are risking their lives constructing a colossal monument to freedom for a young and bustling nation. But exactly what - and whom - will that liberty represent?

As Laisve drifts into their histories, she schools seekers in the ways of dreams, love and the ultimate aim of liberty - to free the next generation from the chains of this one.