Following a brief but devastating war over dwindling resources, the people of Salus have turned to the Temple of Pluto, a religion spawned from an untraceable, repeating radio transmission that promises the single most valuable substance: water.

Among those surviving the unforgiving political and environmental climate is Vera Westin, a scrappy reporter from the rapidly desertifying town of Tunn. Desperate for an escape, opportunity finds her in the form of an aloof mercenary named Tim Gallio, recently arrived from the capital city and looking for a secret buried deep in Tunn's outskirts. A deal is struck, and together they unearth a hollow vessel of chrome, carved in the shape of a three–armed woman—a chromaton.

When Vera's touch brings the chromaton to life and its volatile nature becomes apparent, she is cast into the lethal web of the Spear, a plutonian syndicate that will stop at nothing to recover a working chromaton...or the person who can resurrect them. Vera’s feelings for Tim are challenged when he is revealed to be a member of the Spear with muddled motives and an even more obscure past.

From the tangled knots of an erased past and a hostile future a clear connection emerges: Vera's ability to animate the chromatons is the key to restoring water to their dying planet, but only if she can destroy the Spear before it destroys her.

^{*Vive changed to Vera}