Snowfall is the queen of the IceWing tribe in Pyrrhia. She has been queen a very short time and is struggling with her role. She feels everyone is judging every action and that no one trusts she is capable of being a good queen. This makes her question every word and action. She feels it is her responsibility to keep the IceWings safe and worries that other tribes – especially the NightWings – will attack. That fear makes her want to isolate the IceWings and puts her more on edge the moment she learns hundreds of dragons are flying toward the Ice Kingdom across the ocean. Fearing what will happen, she turns to the Forbidden Treasury and takes several animus (magic) objects she hopes will help face down the invaders. What she quickly discovers is that the invading dragons are refugees from Pantala. The dragons are fleeing an ancient entity that is taking over the minds of the dragons there.
A young IceWing named Lynx puts herself at Snowfall's side. She can tell Snowfall needs someone to talk to and is the first IceWing to push Snowfall to express her worries. Snowfall soon trusts Lynx and begins to depend on her for advice. Snowfall insists the Pantala dragons leave the Ice Kingdom and they move toward the Sand Kingdom, then on to a town called Sanctuary that is home to dragons from all seven of the Pyrrhia tribes. Due to a magic ring Snowfall is wearing, she begins having visions each night that put her in the lives of individual Pantala dragons. Snowfall initially refused to consider helping the Pantala dragons but the visions help her empathize with them as she discovers the true horror they are facing. She begins to advocate for sending help to Pantala but there is a problem – the entity taking over the minds of the dragons there would simply attack any new dragons who arrive.
Snowfall's determination to help the Pantala dragons is fueled by the visions and a prophecy issued by a NightWing dragon named Moon that predicts all dragon tribes are in danger unless the entity in Pantala is stopped. In one of Snowfall's visions, she becomes a scavenger (human) named Raven in a cave in Pantala who knows there is something changing in their world. With that information, a street-smart SandWing named Qibli comes up with a plan to send just 10 dragons and one human to Pantala in search of the answers that must lie underground.
Back in the Ice Kingdom, Snowfall hopes for a vision that will explain a question she has about the disappearance of magic in Pyrrhia. The ring obliges and gives Snowfall a look into the life of an ancient SandWing named Jerboa, who feared animus power would be the downfall of the land and cast her final spell to remove magic from any animus dragon currently alive. Snowfall returns the magic ring to the treasury where she learns an animus dragon created the ring to help young queens move into their role as leaders, and Snowfall begins to take steps to make her kingdom a better place, including destroying a boundary meant to keep all the other tribes out.
Snowfall didn't expect to be queen of the IceWings at such a young age, but now that she is, she's going to be the best queen ever. All she has to do is keep her tribe within IceWing territory, where it's safe -- while keeping every other tribe out, where they belong.
It's a perfect and simple plan, backed up by all the IceWing magic Snowfall can find. That is, until a storm of unidentified dragons arrives on her shore, looking for asylum.
The foreigners are completely strange and, Snowfall is certain, utterly untrustworthy. But as she escorts the miserable new tribes out of her kingdom, Snowfall is forced to reconsider her plan. Maybe she can only keep her tribe safe . . . if she's willing to risk everything.
