Have you ever had a dream so vivid you didn't know if you were awake or asleep?

Terminally ill Cat Deveney wakes up after an earthquake in a place and time she does not recognize. Is she dreaming? She becomes certain of it when told she is the answer to a prophecy, the "Sleeper" who will end a long-running war and halt waterfire — a devastating weather phenomenon that threatens to level the land. But then she meets a man who must guide her through the war-torn countryside, an honorable man who is the very image of her unfaithful boyfriend, and she begins to wonder if she is dreaming.

Strian of Kurit has been given the task of delivering this mysterious woman to the ritual grounds. Is she really the Sleeper as the legends foretell, or is she a spy from the enemy, sent to mislead and betray? Amid the battles and his own doubts, Strian finds himself drawn to the puzzling stranger, and despite his misgivings, starts to believe…