More than 150,000 women have been kidnapped without a trace or any ransom demand in the "normal" world run by the Federalists and the bureaucracy. But that is not the only problem, because the freedom-loving population in the "alternate" reality of the North American Confederacy are facing their own crises.

People are disappearing across the Probability Broach, including Win Bear's closest friend, Featherstone-Haugh (who heads the Confederacy), and even Win's wife and assistant.

Ill (and deadly) winds are blowing and threatening to destroy the Probability Broach as we know it. Win Bear, keeping one step ahead of lethal assassins and fighting incredible odds, must solve multiple apparently disparate cases that all seem to lead to the end of freedom.