Aspen is a prince held in the Unseelie Court as a bribe against war. Snail is just a midwife's apprentice, unworthy of even being in the same room as Aspen. Yet fate has decided to pit the two together--a series of chances and misunderstandings finds the two escaping the Court together, and accidentally starting a war. Now if they do not find a way to end it, no one will.