The White Tower in Tar Valon, under the Amyrlin Elaida, has decided that Rand must be controlled – gentled, if need be – immediately. And in Salidar, among the Aes Sedai in exile, Egwene al'Vere, although summoned to high office, faces the knowledge that her colleagues also wish to bind him.

Drought and summer heat linger into winter and Nynaeve al'Meara and Elayne, the Daughter-Heir of Andor, begin a desperate search for the fabled ter'angreal that may enable them to bring normal weather – a search that takes them among Whitecloaks bent on exterminating Aes Sedai.

And across half a continent, Perrin Aybara feels Rand's pull, ta'veren to ta'veren, and for the first time in a thousand years the bowmen of the Two Rivers march to war.