Two Prophets are dead, and their impressive powers have been passed on to another generation. Their deaths cause the remaining living Prophets as well as the wicked ern to seek out the inheritors of this power, causing war to spread across the land. Meanwhile, in a tiny farming village, Barrin Iylin is left to raise his new son alone when his wife dies in childbirth. Such a task would be hard enough, but Barrin soon finds out that the ern are targeting...