For half his twelve year life Nacano has lived as a simple peasant in the shadow of the local lord's house where his mother works as a maid. He awakens one night to the sight of the house set ablaze by an angry mob and his mother having escaped with the daughter of the lord. She tells him they must run from their home under the cover of night and makes him swear to protect the strange, pale girl who has shattered his quiet existence. Nacano is thrust into a world of roving packs of flat eyed knifemen who kill as easily as they breath and callous lords who prey on the weak and poor. To survive this harsh new life he must come to trust the exiled girl who his mother seems to value more than her own son."