Laisve is a refugee in a destroyed city-island, hunted in Raids and haunted by the spirits of her drowned mother and brother. She dives into the river and finds herself travelling between times and waterways that will connect her with people from the past and future. Among them are a group of workers constructing a colossal monument to freedom for a young and bustling nation. But exactly what – and whom – will that liberty represent?

As Laisve drifts into their histories, she schools seekers in the ways of dreams, love and the ultimate aim of liberty: to free the next generation from the chains of this one.