In response to constant bear invasions, and with the heavy moral obligation to do no harm to the invaders, the city of Gibeah has decided to put every bear it can capture into the ancient maze at its center. They hoped in this way to both maintain their ethics and to never see the bears again. Three years later, a discredited scientist and inventor by the name of Daedalus believes that these bears are in fact capable of solving and escaping the maze, and are at the center of a brooding calamity threatening to destroy the city. At its heart, the book is a retelling of the myths of Daedalus-the story of Icarus, of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur, and Pasipha with her bull, all only slightly readapted so that they may contain a Leper Colony and an ominous threat of bears.