Sparrow Argios is an Ouranos, a person of the sky lands, who just happened to be born on the earth-bound land of the Gi. Her family, like so many Ouranos people, had immigrated to the earth-bound land to seek new fortunes. Unfortunately, two generations later, the Ouranos are still competing with the Gi over the earth-bound land. To make matters worse, the Gi are taking women to replace the ones lost to Ouranos diseases. Then one day, a group of Gi comes to Sparrow's home, looking to take her cousin Dove away. Desperate to save Dove, Sparrow's aunt offers Sparrow to the Gi instead. At twelve, Sparrow is not of marrying age, but the Gi, Wolfe, agrees to return for her in three years. After three years of dread, the day finally comes and Sparrow finds herself leaving her world behind as she is forced to marry Wolfe and live among his people. As if things couldn't get any worse, Sparrow finds Wolfe's people don't accept her. She is a green-eyed Ouranos. Green-eyes are a cursed thing to both the Gi and the Ouranos, making her doubly cursed in the eyes of Wolfe's people. Wolf, himself, does not seem to be interested in her, which makes Sparrow wonder why he even agreed to take her.