In the post-apocalyptic world of the North American continent, five 'polities' survive, all having adopted different political systems. Ithaca (New York) is a republic. Athens (Georgia) is a democracy. Sparta (Wisconsin) is a military dictatorship. Delphi (Indiana) is a theocracy. Amazonia (Missouri) is a tribal oligarchy. To keep a tenuous peace between the polities, they have established 'The League,' which settles disputes and makes decisions that concern the whole. Over the past several generations, due to the effects of radiation and its deadly toll, the populations of the polities have dwindled to unsupportable levels. One day a representative from The League arrives in Ithaca, where our story begins, with an announcement that there is a valley along the 42nd parallel, where it meets the old Rocky Mountain range. In that valley the level of radiation is negligent and a population can survive and thrive there. But which polity? The members of The League are at odds as to which is the best political system to survive into the future, so they decide to have each polity choose their 300 brightest, strongest, healthiest, and wisest, who are to go to the narrow pass that leads into the valley. The last polity in possession of the pass wins the valley and survives into a certain future. The unlikely heroine of the story is Koosh, who exhibits throughout the story, a stubborn resistance to the dictates of Destiny. But can the Ithacan contingent, whose favored weapon is the sling, stand up against the Amazonian, and more challenging, Spartan contingents?

From the author of Cheating Death, Stephen Moore delivers a riveting tale of societies struggling to survive in a dystopian world, and fighting for a future where hope is a possibility. Follow the 15-year-old Koosh across a continent, as she struggles with Destiny, falls in love, and fights for everything she believes.