The night Arthur Leander has a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear is also the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrives in the city, and within weeks civilization as we know it comes to an end.

Twenty years later, Kirsten Raymonde moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves the Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band's existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.

(From the back cover)