In a fictional Pacific-inspired world during a devastating world war, Madison Kleiner serves the Allemanian Reich in the Maribete Islands, a far east island chain and colonial territory. The western superpowers, the Allemanian Reich and the Crown of Balion, remain deadlocked in trench warfare and massive battles. Both empires are battered, their young men depleted, and women are conscripted into total war. The Maribete Islands face a separate crisis as troops fight rival factions and pursue their own gains, loyalties, and futures in the east. The war drags on across fronts, colonies, and societies pulled completely into its machinery.