Neither the time nor the actual location of the novel is ever specifically identified, but Voigt has created a mystical medieval kingdom of rigid social classes. The King, the Earls, and the Lords rule with complete authority over the "people" who can neither read nor write. The rulers live in luxury and move against a tapestry of bright colors and ritual. The people suffer under heavy taxes, poor crops, and harsh weather. The women, but never the men, make regular trips to the "doling room" where they wait patiently to receive food, the charity of the rulers.

When Birle and Orien travel south on the river, they leave the Kingdom behind and come to a strange land known to Birle only through stories told at the inn—stores of a land of pirates and outlaws. But in this land, in Corbel's City, she discovers a new world...