Verity Elysius is the only daughter of a retired general and rich plantation owner. She lives in an insulated world of wealth and privilege, where she spends her time riding her horse, sassing her lady's companion, and being tormented by the family's handsome but irritating nobleman friend, Lord Roth. But when a mysterious, masked vigilante called the Hawk begins stirring up trouble and freeing "silvras," the oppressed, elven lower class, Verity's world is turned upside down as she is challenged about everything she knows about her world and her place in it.