The following version of this book was used to create this guide: Chambers, Becky. A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Tom Doherty Associates, 2021.

Chambers’ novel is divided into eight chapters centered around the protagonist, Dex, as they switch jobs and figure out what they want to do with their life.

The novel begins with Dex, a monk, vowing to leave the only city on Panga in order to try to find crickets somewhere, yearning for the familiar sound. They go to Sister Mara, whose job is to oversee the monastery Dex is a part of, and request a move to the villages, which Mara grants. After a goodbye party, they set out and are met by Sister Fern, whose Half-Moon Hive Monastery is to be their new home. Fern gifts them a wagon.

Dex begins work as a tea monk, which is a barista that also explicitly serves as someone customers can go to with their personal problems. At first, Dex feels woefully unprepared to be a good soundboard for people’s troubles, and they worry they do not make good tea. They set up their home in a town called Little Creek after.

Time jumps two years ahead. Dex is a very successful tea monk now in a town called Inkthorn. Mx. Weaver, who serves on the town council in Inkthorn, arrives one day at Dex’s shop and says they will hold a dinner in their honor, calling them the best tea monk in Panga. However, Dex is beginning to feel tired of their work as a tea monk at this point. They read of a place online called Hart’s Brow Hermitage where crickets may still exist in small numbers. They do not open their market that morning and instead set off. That night, a robot named Mosscap suddenly appears in their wagon. Mosscap tells Dex they are the first human it has ever met, and Dex is shocked because it is the first known occurrence of a robot among all of humanity since something called the Parting Promise. The robots seem to have gained sentience after being created by humans long ago and came to an agreement with the humans to go live on their own, and if they ever wanted to initiate contact again, the robots would, but never the humans. Mosscap is a representative sent to gauge how humanity is doing in the robots’ absence, asking Dex questions about what humans need. It wants to take Dex all through Panga to talk to different sections of humanity. Mosscap warns them that the road to the hermitage will be dangerous, and proposes that it will help Dex in exchange for Dex’s help afterwards. Dex accepts the offer.

On the road, Mosscap tells Dex a few thousand robots exist. Mosscap was sent out because it was the first robot to volunteer to do this job. It says its problem is that, unlike other robots, it has no specific area of expertise. Later, a leak springs in Dex’s freshwater tank, causing a substantial loss of drinking water. Mosscap insists on hauling the tank to a nearby creek to filter the water for drinking. Dex is disturbed by how dirty the water looks at the creek, and Mosscap responds to their disgust by taking them to an abandoned bottling factory nearby. It likens its own feelings of unease at the factory (brought about by the robots’ history of having to work for humans even though they did not want to) to Dex’s unease at the creek — somewhere, an evolutionary remnant is warning each of them about their surroundings because of their ancestors’ experiences. Mosscap’s point is that beings are smarter than these remnants and can overrule them with logic.

Later, Dex cooks and Mosscap watches on, intently asking questions, but refusing to pick any plants for dinner because they are living things. Dex offers Mosscap a plate even though it cannot eat to ease their discomfort at not offering their guest any food. They eventually reach a place where the road is destroyed and it seems like they cannot go any further toward the hermitage, but Dex is determined and cuts a path through the overgrowth. Dex almost falls off at one point and Mosscap saves them. Dex begins to cry, and they admit that they do not know why they are so intent on reaching the hermitage. They find a cave to take shelter from the rain in, and Dex talks about how they feel like something fundamental has always been missing for their life and they thought the hermitage might awaken some spark.

They go onward the following morning and reach the hermitage. They find shrines to several different gods, including the one Dex worships, Allalae. Dex recounts how their father took them to a monastery of Allalae’s when they were young and they met a tea monk there, which made them want to join that profession. Dex is frustrated that this dream of theirs did not give them what they wanted in life, and Mosscap wonders why humans feel they need to have a grand purpose beyond just living and enjoying life. Dex, exhausted by the conversation, takes a nap, and wakes up to Mosscap having made a fire and tea by itself. Dex agrees to accompany Mosscap on its journey around Panga. Dex drinks its tea and hears crickets sound outside the cave.