After a brutal societal revolution, Annie and Lee find their world changed irreversibly, and the two of them, despite their very different backgrounds--Annie from a lowborn family put to death by dragonfire and Lee from a family mostly murdered by the revolutionaries--are given a chance to join the governing class of dragonriders. The two begin to develop feelings for each other, but with war looming, they both will face terrible choices, either coming together despite everything, or choosing the families they have always known and loved.