Maggie is eleven years old and lives in Fennis Wick locked away and protected from the outside world by a frontier behind which the Silent War is fought and the filthy and evil wanderers roam. His brother Jed is one of the oldest, revered and special. A hero. His little brother Trig is loved by everyone. Instead, Maggie is the one in the middle; the invisible and the relegated. One hot day in September he meets Una, a hungry wanderer who has come out for help, and everything seems to be improving.