Darken Rahl's D'Haran soldiers capture Renn, a ten-year-old boy known as a Listener, a person with the ability to read anyone's thoughts, and a very valuable tool for those who control him. When Richard and Kahlan take Renn from his captors, the mind-reading child threatens to reveal their deepest of secrets to each other.

Richard learns that Darken Rahl's most trusted commander, Demmin Nass, is assembling a massive force of D'Haran troops. But when Richard refuses to believe an evil witch woman who says Nass will kill him, she casts a spell which causes Richard and an unsuspecting villager to trade identities, convincing everyone that the villager is really the Seeker.