A freak accident sends Paige, an unusually daring and athletic but otherwise typical teenager, adrift and barely conscious across the arctic seas. Her family and community presume her dead, but Paige is a survivor. When she finally reaches landfall nine days later, she has no money, no resources, and no idea where she is. Paige's insatiable curiosity and her bold, commanding presence quickly earn her a crew of new friends... and a vicious, vengeful enemy.

As the group's de facto leader, Paige embraces the challenge of shepherding her new friends to their respective homes in the northern lands, but their journey is beset by misfortune, internal strife, and seemingly supernatural encounters. While Paige struggles to balance her duty to her companions with her desire to hasten home to her family, her younger sister Zoey rebels against a town overtaken by reactionary restrictions and paranoia in the wake of Paige's accident.

Secretly, Zoey hasn't lost hope that her big sister might still be alive--and the future of their hometown depends on it.