For the island inhabitants of Sombar, the end looms near. As a long-dormant volcano stirs to life, the jewel smith Thissol falls in love with Irdun, a handsome young man employed by a high-class brothel in a town whose residents are rapidly fleeing. Will Thissol persuade Irdun to break the contract which binds him in servitude to the House of the Swallows, or will both perish in the coming cataclysm?