Tara’s story is in the near future. Northern Minnesota is getting more and more extreme weather thanks to climate change. In the winter there are massive blizzards shutting down roads and businesses for days. In the summer there are violent thunderstorms with numerous tornadoes, intermixed with periods of intense heat and drought. The story begins with the assassination of the US president, Vice President and most of congress. War follows with bombs destroying a lot of city roads and buildings. More rural places are spared but become cut off from a lot of resources. Electric and gas services stop. Schools shut down. Hospitals run in crisis mode. Local governments take control because state and national services are gone, and the rules vary greatly from city to city.

A few hundred years in the future Evanee, a descendant of Tara, lives in an idealistic village. They grow food and weave clothes and the children play and go to school. The big buildings have wind and solar power. There is no pollution, no drugs, no violence or crime. They trade with neighboring villages and pay taxes to the city, which provides soldiers for protection from bands of raiders and wild animals. The weather can still be very extreme (climate change unfortunately did a lot of long term damage before things changed) but the people have learned to adapt, with much of their lives taking place underground. Solar powered trains are the main transport between villages. Walls separate the nation of small villages from the outside world. The City is the seat of government power and learning. The nation she lives in, called the Northern Survivor’s Nation, is located in want used to be Minnesota, The City is modern day Minneapolis.