Once upon a time, there was something called the sun…

Sixteen year-old Siria Nightingale has never seen the sun. The light is dangerous, according to Queen Iyzabel, an evil witch who has shrouded the kingdom in shadow.

Siria has always hated the darkness and revels in the stories of the light-filled old days that she hears from her best friend and his grandfather. Besides them, nobody else understands her fascination with the sun, especially not her strict and demanding parents. Siria's need to please them is greater than her fear of the dark, and so she heads to the royal city-the very center of the darkness-for a chance at a place in Queen Iyzabel's court.

But what Siria discovers at the Choosing Ball will send her on a quest that could bring back the Light-or doom the kingdom to shadow forever. Accompanied by a ragtag group of rebels, she sets her course for the North, toward the last vestiges of the sun.