Garet spends his days looking after the sheep on his family's Midland farm and trying to avoid his violent father and brothers. He dreams of being anywhere else. Being anything else. Then terrifying demons invade the land - and Garet's life is changed by a violent encounter.

Long feared in the five cities but unknown in Midlands, these monsters paralyze their prey with waves of fear, but Garet, having been forced to deal with fear every day of his life, manages to defeat one of the beasts. His victory catches the attention of the demonbanes - those who fight the demons in those cities Garet dreams of visiting.

Taken by the banes, he starts a new life in the city of Shirath. However, despite both his efforts and the acceptance of a few new friends, fitting in seems impossible. Looking in from the outside is lonely, but it gives Garet a chance to pierce the city's centuries of tradition and see that a new type of demon is coming to Shirath's walls, one that could destroy them all.