A mysterious event, known as the Change, causes all electronic devices, including computers, telephones, engines, and radios, to quit working, and forces a reorganization of society, with groups of survivors banding together for safety and sustenance, or criminal purposes.

In the tenth year of The Change, the survivors in western Oregon have learned how to live in a world without technology--but there are those who would exploit the new world order. On one side stands Michael Havel's Bearkillers and their allies, Clan MacKenzie under the leadership of Juniper MacKenzie. On the other is the Lord Protector, Norman Arminger, the Warlord of Portland, whose neo-feudal empire rules over much of the Pacific Northwest. The...