When plain and simple Eely finds a beautiful winged man wounded in one of the rift caves she takes him to Iakas, a roofie, who learns that the winged man had been betrayed by those who resent the superiority of the winged folk and cast out of his beautiful city in the clouds. Together with Red and his drain-crawler twin brother Igorik, they embark on a quest to recover the sacred and elusive starstone, which had also been cast adrift. The starstone responds to beauty, and grows stronger in its presence - so where is it? Can the people of Quentaris find true beauty and end the long-standing animosity that exists between the elitist roofies, the vain sky folk, and the humble ground dwellers? And why is Eely becoming so - angelic?