When Emily Doyle travels by airship to New Doral, the last thing she expects is to meet a polite young man who helps a gang of slavers drug and kidnap her. Yet those operating in the shadows of the Chimney have no idea who they’re dealing with.

Managing a daring escape, the petite and gutsy white-haired vir is determined to find out who’s behind her abduction and to retrieve something taken from her. Emily’s search leads her to unexpected places, jobs, and friends. But nothing could have prepared her for life in the Chimney, New Doral’s multilevel set of enclosed cities where citizens can either thrive or merely survive depending on their race, sex, and class.

Emily won’t let those in power, as well as those in the Chimney’s underbelly, stop her from unearthing the truth. All she needs is a Merc license, and she can locate her abductors, find what she’s lost, and stop her captors from harming anyone else. Too bad it’s not that simple.

Intent on remaining true to her values and following her “path,” Emily must find justice for the oppressed while exposing the cracks in the Chimney’s system, all the while still following the belief system in which she was raised.